My Life; WP 3

Sublime
"What I got"
I can remember getting my first cd, it was exciting all the kids had the the same cd, Sublime. Now that I look back I think that maybe, just maybe we were listening to music too old for us, I at the time could have only been maybe twelve. In the song, "Love is what I got" you see a family and a dog spending their time together in many different ways, from long boarding to chasing the dog along the beach. Just like me my long summer days were spent sitting around listening to the cd, and like in this song skate boarding around on long boards all around the neighborhood, followed by the loved companion, my dog diana. The only thing is that there definitely wasn't any beautiful serene beaches around us. But now a long way from home, I think back to the things I had when I was a child growing up, and the fact is that it wasn't many things, but that didn't matter. Everything I needed, I had. Of course, i didn't have the newest and lately, but no one in my neighborhood did. Everything I needed was taken care of, a home, friends, a dog in this case I had a beautiful half pit, half chow, and I always would come home to a perfect diner. What I had most of and still do even now is "love", just like in the song, "love is what I got." I had nothing, but a loving family and it didn't matter that we weren't rich because just like in the song, I had and still have nothing but total love for my family. And just like in this song, we are united always because we are a close loving family.



Gnarls Barkley
"Smiley Faces"
In this song Gnarles Barkley is singing how "she" brings him a smiling face. And thinking about that I definitely remember my first serious relationship. I remember how I thought that everything was just perfect. Barkley sings at one point, "you need something warm to embrace to put on a smilin' face." And at the time I thought that the answer would be to get involved seriously with this girl. Barkley looks so happy in the song, dancing around these statues that resemble Egyptian statues, and simply not caring about anything and instead dancing because he is so happy. I remember the first time i even jumped up in the air because of just how happy I was. I remember dancing around my door before I stepped in resembling something like a bird doing some sort of mating ritual. It was my first serious relationship and I was perfectly happy, because everything was perfect. He also describes how everyone needs something to smile about. And in this case it was a girl who would become my first serious relationship, and at one point the first that I actually thought I loved, but didn't, but in my defense at this point in my life how was I supposed to know that these were just warm feelings in my heart.




Chemical Romance
"I don't love you"
As in any first serious relationship, most will come to a end fairly quickly, or at least will parish is no time. This is a song of a person trying to tell the other that they don't love the other person anymore. The song reminds me of just how I felt once a upon a time after my first serious relationship came to a halt, and a fiery one at that. Chemical Romance says one line, "I won't try to make you stay." I can only remember how I felt, when out of nowhere, after 9 long months I just didn't care anymore, I to this day have not figured exactly why, or how for that matter. But it was as if there was no love in me anymore for this person. Trying to remember now, I don't think she did anything wrong, I don't think that...oh yeah now I remember. Instead of hate, which it evolved into there was simply no emotion. There was nothing there and it was as if I got not even try to regain this emotion back, but at this point I don't even think that I wanted to. Even when I spoke to her it was as if she was an acquaintance and nothing more, all the memories somehow vanished, and it was as if she was just a distance memory or even possibly apart of a dream that I once had. Deja-voo I guess you could call it, that all that she ever was now that I remember her, but what I will never forget is the hate I once had towards her.



Eminem
"Puke"
Eminem is rapping about a previous relationship with a woman named kim. He is discussing how she makes him sick and how he cannot stand her. As I now look and listen to the song, I cannot, but help to remember that I felt the same way when my first serious relationship came crashing down is a fireball. Eminem sings one line, "you make me sick..you may not think you do, but you do." And I wonder if she truly knew just how I felt. First there was nothing, but emotionless...nothing. But than I can distinctly remember just how I felt after "everything she put me through." Relationships come and go and that's the way it probably always will be. I can remember just like in the song, I wanted nothing to do with her, and in fact I was sick when the thought of her crossed my mind. I remember juts how disgusted I felt after dealing with her, and the emotionless drain came to and end, followed by much hate.



DJ Tiesto
"Love comes again"
After my first serious relation came to a crashing end, and I thought all was over, and the only thing I would ever feel again is hate towards women. That is until I met my now fiance. And I started to realize that, I am beginning to really like this pretty girl. As time grew on so did my affection. I heard this song with her at Global Dance Festival, and I couldn't help, but realize that the words spoken in the song, "Love comes again" is nothing, but the very truth and that just maybe I am falling for this girl. I was very careful in expressing it and showing it, as the man is in this song, but I definitely felt the strongest of sensations I ever had when with her. Whatever happens in any ones relationship, the end is always the same, that is love comes again. The only thing that still resonated in my mind was, how am I supposed to know if this is the real genuine true love that I have been looking for. In the song dj tiesto describes that "you have to take a chance" and it dawned on me that we will probably not know just what love is until we take the chance and really get close. Life I realized at this point is nothing, but chances integrated with cause and effect.



ATB
"9:00 pm"
In the video, a secret agent is coming home to her presumed to be boyfriend for dinner. And now I remember the first time I ever cooked dinner, and it was for my now fiance. Nothing, but nervousness swept over me, as well as making sure that everything was just simply perfect. Just as in this music video you can see that the man is also having problems and just trying to make that perfect dinner for his loved one. As I look back I cannot help, but remember how much of a disaster it was and that nothing went the way it should of. But that didn't matter, it was to be the perfect dinner and I was to "sweep her of her feet" with my quintessential cooking skills that I somehow possess. I remember cooking the chicken Alfredo for her and it completely fell apart. And like in the song it didn't matter just how long I had it was doomed from the beginning, like the man in the video who had all day to cook, both of us shared the same fate in that it was a doomed dinner, but at the same time it was great because in my mind it brought me closer to my fiance.



Maroon 5
"Sunday Morning"
As I was driving down I-80W just not too long ago, I couldn't help, but sit in anticipation of my coming home on Sunday, being home home just right after breakfast, and getting to spend the rest of my day with my fiance. There was no real reason as there is in the video it was just a good thing to be able to spend as much time as I could with my fiance. At the same time I knew that my stay would be short lived neither one of us cared and we just spend our day together doing our normal Sunday routine. As the day grew on I realized that tomorrow afternoon I will be headed back to school. Like in the song, "I never want to leave" only sat in my mind, and I began to wonder if I even will, I began to drift my thought toward things such as, "not returning to school" or "finding a job" back home in Denver where she lives. But of course these were only my fantasies playing in my mind of just how bad I want to stay home and never leave her, but it also crossed my mind that I am not just going to school for myself I am also going to school for her. Like in the song, "Everything I do, will lead me back to you" relates to me, I am not just in school for myself, but also her and that is the way I wanted to keep it. I realized thinking on my long journey home that everything I do, I really do for her.




ATB
"Ecstasy"
ATB has another song that relates to my finance, plain and simple see is my ecstasy. Although I have never done it, I can imagine that like any other drug it is addictive. So there is a strong correlation there, because she is so addictive and that I need her in my life. Also the fact that when I am with her I am having the time of my life, and everything is perfect. I cannot get enough of her, and everything I do, as long as its with her is just perfect. The woman voice sings that "I'll never be the same I'll tell you for sure" and there is just yet another startling correlation. I never really will be the same as long as I live because no matter what, unlike my past relationship everything is both memorable and loving and will never be forgotten.
Ecstasy is a drug described as a drug that not just a feel good drug, but more than that it is a drug in which there are such high emotions. She just like in the song, "you really are my ecstasy" is a meaning to my fiance because, she gives me a feeling of such greatness, and high emotion that I can't feel anywhere else in my life.

Welcome to the Jungle II

As I mentioned in the post earlier, Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n' Roses was not only one the first videos I ever saw, but also probably my favorite. This video regardless of what I think about the image portrayed about "Rock Music" is simply a great song. It is about the "jungle" or the world outside, the real life world and I find it to be not only musically easy to listen to, but also just a overall true image of the world outside the "Beavers" perfect house hold where there are drugs, women, money and hatred surrounding well it seems almost everything. The world is mean and well just not a very good place, and if you listen to the lyric closely it is saying as if welcome to the real world everybody. Where there is violence, drugs, women and how knows what else. And another reason why I like this video and song is because plain and simple it is a great songs, I not only like this song and what it has to say, but also because musically. Another thing is, just watch the video and you will see that plain and simple it is a bad ass video and I'm pretty sure you will liove, it because who doesn't like Guns n ' Roses I think that almost everybody who grew up with that musical era likes guns n' roses because of not only what they are expressing in their music and how it makes you feel, but also because it is in my mind expressing the truth about the world, and they are sending a message that people need to be ready and know what they need to expect. Great f$$$ing video.

Welcome to the jungle

I can specifically remember the first time that I saw this video, Welcome to the jungle by Guns n Roses. I was maybe twelve or thirteen and I was sitting home with my brother on a lazy summer day, and all day our day was composed of watching sports center, VH1 and fighting each other. On this specific say it was nice and calm and we were watching VH1 when this video came on, I was never a big fan of music videos I in fact could never really do anything about that anyways considering specifically my brother was trying to impress a girl. Anyway I was watching this video and there were a lot of things that crossed my mind, but the biggest thing is that, "wow" I wanna be a rock star, they all have money, woman and everything else that they could ever ask for, so it was then that I decided my 8696898 career, I was going to be a rock star, sing songs, get drunk, have women, and more money than I know what to do with. However as a day or so went by I realized that I wasn't going to be a rock star anymore and that in fact all the sudden I hated rock music. I wasn't until some time later that I got to see this video again, probably when they were showing classics, my dream of being a rock star had faded into a distance memory and now I was truly set on joining the Air Force. Anyway I realized that the life of a rock star isn't really cool, as much money and women as they might get, I sort of decided that that was stupid and I wouldn't throw my life away on something I didn't want to do.

The Good Life

As you cruise out of Colorado heading down Interstate-76E at a safe 75 mph and your seat belt safely buckled you get all excited, you’re that much closer to your destination and all the sudden what was Interstate-76E turns into Interstate-80E. The pavement all the sudden seems to be a redder than red, traffic out of no where doubles, and you continue to cruise by when all the sudden for a quick flash of no more than 3-4 seconds you see a sign that says,
"NEBRASKA..the good life." As you continue to pass the state line the only thing that comes to mind is, "wow" this sign is making quite a heavily opinionated statement, saying that Nebraska is home to the good life is like a slogan, and is just one of the many "rhetoric" strategies employed in the sign. The sign uses many rhetoric strategies such as "illustration," "cause and effect," "analogy," "classification and division," as well as "pathos," "ethos," and "logos" to sell the point that in fact Nebraska is home to the good life.

The sign is taking a "ethical" or "ethos" stand in that it is giving the good will intent of the writer saying that, "Nebraska..the good life." The writer is trying to tell the audience the goodwill he/she really has for the state of Nebraska itself and how he/she feels about Nebraska. Embedded within this "ethos" appeal there is the "logos" or "logical argument," which means that it is an attempt to persuade the audience through a definition, which is as stated plain and simply, "Nebraska..the good life." On the sign itself the sign says that Nebraska is home to the good life so this is taking a "ethos" or "ethical argument" in that the sign is giving the goodwill that it is "home to the good life," but it is given through a "logical" or "logos" argument which is in fact the plain definition of what Nebraska is, that is; "home to the good life."
As you continue driving pass it, only getting further from your rear view mirror, one can imagine an a-ray of other "rhetoric strategies/ arguments" employed such as "illustration," "cause and effect," "analogy," and in some ways "classification and division."
The "illustration" in the sign as a whole was that the sign in fact was old and beat up, it was rusted and one could imagine how much longer it will hold together. The back round if not paying attention to the rust was a settle and warming green, a nice touch to the sign itself as well as it transcends the surrounding green landscape. With a white outside line wrapped around the entirety of the sign, in the upper left extending all the way to the middle was the words in bold white letters, "NEBRASKA...the good life." On the right side of the sign was a picture of a cowboy who has one hand in the air and is sitting on the horse who is standing on its hind legs. The sun in a big yellow oval is behind the cowboy. The cowboy gives off an image of "Nebraska" being a "wild west" state, which means that there are always exciting things to do, and things that happen, a sort of adventurous place to be.
Because of the cowboy you might be thinking that Nebraska has an adventurism side to itself. This demonstrates a "cause and effect" which is the benefits of using their "product" in this case living in Nebraska, and never seeing the same thing twice as well as always being an adventurous state of mind.
This is where you begin to have "analogy" to set up a subjective argument of Nebraska being the good life. However as much as the writer or sign artist is setting up the sign to make a point that, "Nebraska is home to the good life" to everybody this is in fact a "logical fallice" which is a misuse of "logos" the "logical argument". Not everybody thinks that Nebraska is the good life and I guarantee not everyone is happy here in Nebraska. The case in point however, is that whether it is a logical fallice or not, the "sign artist" is only trying to utilize "pathos" which is to put the audience in a particular mood that is to think that Nebraska is home to the good life.
The final and probably most important argument used is "classification and "division." This is to help the reader conceptualize how the product fits into a larger scheme of things with in life, this means that the sign is taking a place of trying to tell the audience that Nebraska is where you should raise your family, live your life, retire, and be happy. The overall point of "classification" is that it is telling the audience this is the place to be and to live and, its not as important that its a logical fallice as that it is the advertisement just like any, its trying to tell the audience Nebraska and all it's beauty is the quintessential place to live.

Home, safe home

I’m sitting reading the newspaper as I normally do everyday (Believe it or not). When I stumbled onto a story in the local news of Sheaff’s family living in a flood plain in Lancaster County. I continued to reader and then, there it was a picture of their home engulfed under water. I sort of sat in disbelief and wondered how a home can be built in such a way, that the lower level of the house is some 7 feet under water, and that the only safe place is on the top floor of the house. I continued to read on in curiosity when, I read that when the house was being built, the flood levels and geographical maps were provided by an outdated FEMA. Then my next question was, how can this happen. How is that a house when in the right season is engulfed with water, and the city safety inspector lets construction continue on the house. I was very curious so I read of another house that was built in Nebraska over a landfill and the high pressure gaseous buildup continued and before anyone knew it, the house erupted in a fire and small explosion. Although no one was hurt, and the floor was only thing that needed to be replaced I wondered,

“Are the city inspector simply passing all the building permits that pass by, in order to create a larger housing sector.” I wonder what the case is, because the point is that this is an important issue, things like this just don’t concern money, it also concerns life’s and the safety of others. It is stories like this, that make people think twice about buying houses. It also raises the question,

“Is home really safe?” If we cannot trust our experts of safety, then who can we trust.

Leaving alone

So it became apparent just within the first few hours of being dropped off here at Nebraska Wesleyan that, I would have to take care of myself. Big Momma Bear and Papa Bear were not around anymore, and in fact they were some 500 miles away. The biggest problem that I faced was, well none. My first impression was that I no longer had to listen to my parents and it didn't matter what they'd say, because I don't no anyone who can see 500 miles away. I could go to sleep whenever I wished, and generally speaking I could do all the things I wanted without asking my parents permission. However, as the days drew on and on and no one was around me, to look after me I began to really miss it. The biggest battle for me, was the laundry, for the first time I had to do the laundry myself and that is diffently something that no one wants to do themselves. I can specifically recall the first time that I got a spot on my clothes and just throwing it in the wash with the bleach wasn't enough. I soon discovered that laundry after all is a little more difficult then I originally expected watching my mother do it all those youthful years of my life. And after the death of my favorite shirt, I began to wonder if I really could survive her alone, with no one to do my laundry. Later I finally figured out that 'spray n'wash' does the job, but I didn't do it right again. I sat and thought to myself, how dumb am I. I can't even do my own laundry. Then I thought I can't just do my own laundry, I can't do anything. I really started to realize just how much I really missed growing up at home, and having my mother do everything for me. All those years that I would say, I just want to leave. I no longer wish those years away, but instead I wish that I would have them back.

It's just a harmless plant?

Just after 5:00pm Wednesday night, Lincoln-Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force found 140 marijuana plants in the basement of a Lincoln home, located at 6008 Dogwood Drive. So far there have been three arrests Geoffrey Leach, John Krotz and David Campell. At this home the police found over some $8,000 cash, growing lights, and other growing materials which were all located behind a hidden/false wall.
As a reading you begin to wonder just how many people smoke marijuana, grow marijuana and so on. People all over the country try to argue that it really is just a harmless drug and that no on has ever died from weed. Many argue that the only affect is the"munchies." Others will argue that cannabis can be linked to many illnesses especially lung cancer. Other studies have some that it really is not harmful, but then the question is raised; if it is not harmful then why is it that it is illegal to grow and sell in almost all western world countries. Cannabis contains THC and when that THC is consumed into the body it goes to the nerves in the brain called the "cannabinoid" receptors. Some studies show that although it creates brain activity, it does so in a negative matter, killing brain cells; however, brains cells also will die at the same rate from smoking a cigarette. Some studies have also shown that it does no harm to the brain. And as a reader the more you read the more and more all of this information is misunderstood. The more you read it, the more there is information that shows both sides of the stories. Although we all know that marijuana by itself is not always bad, it is linked to the real fact that 43% of marijuana user move to much more deadlier drugs. And yes everyone knows you can't OD on marijuana, however; that doesn't mean you are not in danger. Marijuana is also linked to the death of thousands due to outside conflicts with others. These may be drug dealers, car accidents etc. However I believe that the overall picture whether it truly is a "safe", it is still illegal in most states, and countries. And the question is raised,
"If it really is harmless, then why is it illegal almost everywhere we go."