The Anti-Homework

If homework were jesus Facebook would be the anti-Christ. Any spark of productivity is usually quickly extinguished by this virtual master of distraction. Once I begin really working on something it does not take me too long to crank it out, but my momentum is quickly stopped when i hear that “pop!” that alerts me that someone is talking to me and is eager to draw me away from something much less important. I would not be at all surprised if you were on Facebook as you are reading this; I can’t blame you.

I work fine (maybe even better) with music on and can even manage my roommate playing video games or watching TV inches from me, but when it come to the anti-homework I just can not say no. Its the closest I have ever come to an addiction. It has been greatly amplified by my acquisition of a lap top. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a study tool.

Call me crazy but I feel that lap tops actually distract us more than they help us. I constantly see kids playing games, using Facebook, and other non-class related things in many of my courses. These distracted deviants greatly outnumber the students using their tools for taking notes and studying. I luckily have not developed this nasty habit, I have enough to take in without discovery whats on the mind of my friends and seeing how much fun they had over the weekend.

However I can not restrain myself once I am back in my room. I had a midterm and a tough spanish assignment due on the same day about a week ago and was about to go on fall break. I could not for the life of me start my engines and get my work done. Finally, around 9 I left my room along with my phone and computer and laptop and went to the study room. I accomplished more in the thirty minute period (before being kicked out of the room because of a student government meeting) than I had in the two hours before then that I spent trying to study in my room. When I came back I was immediately distracted by my boisterous hall mates and roommate.

This is just an example of the problems that are caused by online networking. I would have been much more studious had I been born twenty years earlier. I sound like a nostalgic mom but sometimes I really do feel like the “good old days” were superior without all of these new means of communication.

Let the Pranks Begin

Very recently my roommate and a friend of mine decided it would be a good idea to prank me when I left for class. This was a big mistake as me and my friends went through a huge pranking stage during high school; we mostly did car pranks, but its the same concept. The pinnacle of this pranking stage was probably when I came outside with my girlfriend to find my Jeep up on blocks.

But back to the story, they decided that it would be hilarious if they hid roughly 4x6 pictures around my room in inconspicuous places. These places included the inside of my laptop, the drawer containing my keyboard, the page in a book I had bookmarked, under my covers, in the bottom of my hamper, and my personal favorite, the inside of my lampshade (Don’t worry i checked my feeder 2.2 folder and it was spared). This last one was actually really funny, I could not see the picture until i turned on my lamp, the light eerily illuminated this very gross picture and I could not help but laugh. They also put a very nasty background on my computer and set my internet explorer homepage as something equally disgusting. I did not find much humor in this as it lacked any creativity.

When I found all of these pictures strewn about my room I reused them and hid them on his side. These were spur of the moment and I couldn’t plan it out too much but some highlights were hiding them at the bottom of his cereal, taped on one of his soda cans and stapled to the bottom of his shower flip flops.

After about an hour of passively brainstorming I came up with one for the record books. He brought with him a masterpiece of a painting that he created last year in high school. It is a very large blue lion... I don’t know. It now resides in a nice frame on our wall. It is very dear to him, if anything happened to it, he would be furious. For this reason I decided it would be my painting. The next weekend he leaves town I plan on photocopying this picture, hiding the original, then, after vandalizing the photocopied lion (I plan on giving the lion a mustache and many other things, add suggestions in your comments), put it in the picture frame for him too see upon returning from his time away.

Music and Me

Ever since the release of MGMTs album i have been really into electronic style music. I love how it goes back to the 80s and uses synth driven styles that had long been forgotten. Many bands spawned from this 80s revival and I love almost all of them. This inspired me and a friend (who had previously been in an alternative rock band together) to make two songs right before the end of the summer that were really different and interesting. We did all of this on a cheap keyboard and garage band; we had no other recording devices. One song was about getting stuck in the stomach of “metal alligator” (not my idea) and the other is a somewhat comical portrayal of the apocalypse. I also wrote some fun lyrics regarding based on a crash in the Bermuda Triangle and enjoying. The thing I love about all of this music is the quirky persepctive it gives life. When writing I try to uphold this tradition. Below is a sample of what i have written. Its pretty rough but I hope you enjoy it:

Come crash with me

find yourself washed up on the beach

hide the wreckage beneath the trees

I can see it now on the TV

Wake up and feel the breeze

We are trapped ive never felt so free

When the world brings you to your knees

turn your back, stand up, and do as you please

Taste the salt and feel the breeze

Hear the waves crash down upon the beach

Smell the ocean smell the see

I see you and I see me

We keep on living you are all I need

Lay with me on a bed of leaves

oh lord ive never been so at peace

What happens here well it stays

we're staying here till the end of our days

take this ring its all i have

I hope it sticks on you like a leech

we wont have to plan our honeymoon

we are already on the beach

no our big day it wont be much

you play the organ i'll play the priest

you play the organ and i'll play the priest

If you enjoyed this tell me, also I can let you listen to the two songs me and my friend made, he is a very talented singer. We didn’t even bother to come up with a band name so expect a myspace or anything.

Halloween Costume Ideas

Halloween Ideas

Every day brings the holiday of halloween closer and closer. Halloween is in a dead tie with christmas for the best holiday in existence. Ever since the I could remember I always knew what I wanted to be for that one great night. Whether it was Robin, one of the Power Rangers, Ninja turtles (or just straight up ninjas) or Cyclops from X-men, I always knew. My older brother would of course accompany me as Batman, another power range (I black ranger and he was of course red) or Wolverine.

This is my first year away from home and I can’t decide what to be. I either have too many great ideas, or not enough. Me and a very good friend Jarred are considering being three possible duo’s: Starsky and Hutch, Maverick and Goose (from Top Gun, one of the greatest movies of all time) or two matching greenmen from the show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I will weigh the pros and cons of each of these.

At this point I am leaning towards Starsky and Hutch but I still have plenty of time to decide. I feel like i could make a good Starsky, and my friend, who has wavy blonde hair could probably pull off a pretty good Hutch; the only thing he is missing is a broken nose. The good things are that we both look somewhat similar to the characters, and I my hair is getting more 70’s-esque by the day. Also, most people would recognize Starsky and Hutch. The tough part might be finding costumes. Clothing as classy as that will be hard to find and will take countless scans of multiple Goodwills.

Maverick and Goose is also a very good concept. This is one of my all time favorites and I would love to pull it off. The only problem is the price. If we go for the low grade flight suits we will simply look stupid and like little kids who are dressing up as army men. Also i would have to get a Tom Cruise haircut which worries me. My greatest fear for this costume is that not enough people have seen the movie and would just give us confused and disgusted looks.

The Green man is a whole new animal. This would be hilarious to anybody who has seen the TV show “Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” But we would be hiding behind a green spandex mask all night. Yes I said it, green SPANDEX. This is the other down side. I am not sure how comfortable I am wearing a full body spandex suit the whole night; I would need to lose about 15 pounds to be excited about that. But then again it could be motivation to do so. Also, people who don’t watch the show would be generally weirded out and unamused by two green men walking down the street.

Please let me know what you think about me being the following characters.