A Writer of Necessity
Blog 1

I am mostly a writer of necessity, usually to get something accomplished. Such as an argumentative letter, or to get a specific point across to someone. I write allot of notes and keep allot of records such as my sugar levels, blood test, and medical procedures. I keep written logs for vocational rehab, and work one.
I am a very fictional writer, such as comical short stories for or about friends. I have started several songs that will probably never get finished, however I really hope they do. I enjoy writing the comical short stories for, and about my friends. It is fun for me, and my friends. Laughter is always a good way to lift everyone's spirits.
I can see myself being a better writer the more I am subjected to the aspect of different types of writing. The fact that I have not been a writer of essays, poems, or any other artistic writing does not limit my writing by any means. I actually have a lot ideas that I would like to write about. Writing short stories about the things that are going on around me would definitely be possibilities for me to be a successful writer. Considering the fact that a successful writer can be some one who writes about anything, success is that the ready gets the point and can get into your mind and understand what you are trying to say.
This class is not really what I was expecting. It is actually very interesting, and I enjoy it a lot. It will definitely help me in my endeavors as a professional person. Although web management is my major, I will need to do a lot of writing for every class. It has already helped me with my public speaking class; it helps me get ideas, details and points of view in line with what I am actually trying to give my speeches about.
If for some reason in the future I was to become a professional writer it would probably be short stories, comic strips or maybe some sort of complaint column in a news paper. Actually a complaint column mite be rite up my alley, considering all the complaints I have about this society we live, but I won’t go into that now. Instead we will continue to talk about what kind of writer I am. It’s really sad I guess that I never was a recreational writer; I have lots of friends in different states that would love to receive a letter now and then. Not to mention all my friends and family in jail.
Maybe someday that will change I doubt it though it just seems like I’m always to busy and I am by all means a procrastinator.

The worst words to ever hear... blog 10

The words that drastically changed everything in my life left my mother’s lips while we were watching one of my nephews play on the swing set. My parents had set my oldest sister, my brother and I down and started a talk with us. They had waited for my sister Lora to leave their house, so she wouldn’t cause a big controversy of the situation. At first we were all just sitting having a good time talking. Then it started; the sorry look appeared in their eyes, and their tone became sadder while they were talking. Of course my mother said those horrid words; she had wanted it for such a long time it was killing her that it hadn’t happened. Those words still ring in my head, and cause my heart to ache a little. “Your father and I are getting a divorce”. April, Harry, and I looked like fish; our mouths dropped open, and we were dumb-founded. The next thing I did was hug my father. At that moment I didn’t care how my mother felt. My father used to worship my mother, and loved her with all his heart; so I knew that he was hit the hardest by this divorce. April became very angry and hasn’t really talked to my mother since. Harry went over to comfort my father as well; he was living with them still because he was still in high school and was going to go into the Navy after that. It was just an awful feeling of my family falling apart, that we haven’t really recovered since. The reason I bring this up is because recently the divorce became finalized. My mother got a lot of money and went to Vegas recently; but she has been irresponsible since she got her own place. If you really want to know; I blame my mother for the most part for the divorce. I know that is bad but I still blame her.

A & F

Upon examining the Abercrombie and Fitch website I am struck by the first image that is on the homepage. There is a young man from the waist up with no shirt on smiling with his hand behind his head. If I’m not mistaken, A&F sell clothes yet there are no clothes to be seen. Instead, there is a model in typical model form: dark skin, straight teeth, young, physically fit and down right good looking. The man represents what every guy who wears A&F wants to be, an Abercrombie model. Abercrombie produces this image in order to sell its merchandise. They are implying that buying and wearing these clothes, or lack there of, contributes to your physical appearance.
On the A&F homepage is a link entitled A&F TV: Loch Ness. After following the links, I was presented with a seven minute video that involved three girls who went to Scotland in search of Loch Ness. They went through a series of interviews with people who have seen the ‘monster,’ visited the museum and even went out on the lake in search of the mysterious monster. Now, what the hell does this have to do with A&F clothing? Well, I did notice that the girls were wearing the product, but no where in the video did they mention A&F clothing or try to sell them. I think that this is a symbol of adventure that A&F uses to sell their clothes. The girls did have plaid skirts or kilts and high socks on which are two items of clothing that they sell. This implies that if you wear our ‘cultural’ clothes i.e. Scottish Kilts, then you too can believe in the Loch Ness monster and even go search for it if you want. However, while watching this video, I became more intrigued with the story of Loch Ness rather than what kind of clothes the girls were wearing. It might also be useful to say that all three of the girls were young and beautiful, which seems to be a continuous theme with A&F clothing.
In examining the other links for men’s clothing, there are other pictures of A&F models, all of which are male and all of which have little or no clothing on. There is one picture of two guys in a dune buggy and the gentleman on the left has a white t-shirt on with no marks of A&F on it. Ironically, when you purchase any piece of clothing that A&F sells, it is ‘defaced’ with their own logo either spelling out Abercrombie and Fitch, an A&F logo, or even a moose. This is a way for A&F to create their own form of advertisement. They use their consumers for their own greater good and the consumers like it!

Culture

Material culture can be defined in many different ways. Culture, being the root of anthropological study, is one of the most widely defined words of the English language therefore we should first examine its many meanings and interpretations.
Culture is a shared set of learned behaviors, values and meanings. It assumes that there is a pattern to social behavior and it is widely accepted or distributed by the entire society. In other words there is a certain appropriateness that people share in how they act in public versus how they act at home. Culture is structured with dominant patterns that constantly change because there are a number of influences that come outside the mainstream culture (sub-culture) that challenge the patterns set forth by the dominant culture. Having said, there is no one dominant group that determines what a culture is, however, in a structured society, we find that certain groups have more influence over others. This hierarchy of social structure is clearly visible when Britney Spears started to wear trucker hats and soon there were lines galore at Hat World© for the latest style of Von Dutch’s mesh-backed hats. In other words, there exists a struggle among the ‘lower classed’ or non-dominant social force to grasp what it is the dominant class is up to, but yet there is a limit to everything. At some point there exists a level of tolerance among the non-dominant culture group, believing that this is the way it is supposed to be and I’m ok with my average car and average home.
As a result of the said definition of culture, material culture examines a culture through all of its material aspects i.e. what kind of cars they drive, while still focusing on the attitudes and beliefs (culture) towards these objects and their impact on or what they mean to society. Material culture focuses on every member of society, from Bill Gates to John and Jane Doe, and it is not exclusive to any dominant or non-dominant portion of society. By examining and focusing on material culture, it provides an outlook or identity to the person and their impact on society.

My 2nd Concert

My second concert experience came on March 25 at a local bar here in the town of Crawfordsville. Even though I am not of age to be at a bar, I got in but just could not drink. One of my friend has a band, Transient Clef, in which he has competed in many competitions gaining statewide attention such as the Battle of the Bands at Birdy’s and the Music Mill in Indianapolis. They perform a lure of songs that may be classified as punk or alternative. They write all of their own songs and don’t perform any cover songs. Transient Clef used only your typical amplifiers for two guitars, one lead, one bass, and microphones for the drummer and the vocalist respectively. I learned about this event through word of mouth as well as many fliers that had been put up around the town. They do have a CD out, but I’m not sure of the name of the song that I like. It sounded awesome performed live, though. This concert was very well performed. They did an excellent job of gaining audience support and maintained it well throughout the performance, despite such a small venue. Their songs are really catchy, or at least good enough to make a CD, and are even that much better performed live. The lead singer doesn’t play an instrument and just concentrates on singing, something of which he does very well. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone and everyone that I know. They need as much publicity as they can get and word of mouth is the best form of communication! In order to spread their popularity, I might get them to give out some music samples, for example CD’s or perhaps a free concert somewhere. Needless to say, Transient Clef is a band on the rise. They just haven’t been heard by the right person yet.

Air Conditioning

It is almost unheard of these days to not own an air conditioner to cool your house. But there are a rare few out there. Air conditioners have been a round for a long time. Today they are becoming cheaper and more environmental friendly. So who wouldn’t want one? You might know what the air conditioner is but you probably don’t know how it actually works.
Usually you will see a square or circle unit sitting up on some kind of pad. What is the pad for? The pad it sits on is the unit can sit level and not sink in the ground. As you look closer from the top; you will see a big fan through a grill looking thing. This is to draw the hot air from the coil that surrounds the entire unit. The coil consists of copper pipes running through these little aluminum fins. The coil is surrounding this black cylinder that sits in the middle on the bottom. This is called the compressor; it all starts here. A compressor is more or less like a pump. It has two different size copper pipes running out of it. The compressor pumps a gas called refrigerant through these two pipes which go inside. Each pipe takes the refrigerant in a different direction. From the outside unit these copper lines bring refrigerant to an inside coil also known as a furnace or air handler. The gas changes into a liquid before entering the inside coil. This is where you get your cold air from. The cold air is then blown through the building or house. This is the whole cooling process.
Having an air conditioner is not necessary but it is good to have for your comfort. There are different air conditioners that cool buildings different was but all work about the same way. If you ever need to buy an air conditioner or need an air conditioner worked on; you don’t have to know how to do it. You can just call a local service company and they will get you straightened up. It can be expensive but it is necessary.

Snow Days

Not that I can really remember the very first time I saw snow. But one of the first times that I do remember was about second grade. The winter of second grade was the starting point of sledding with friends. I woke up one morning to get ready for school when my mother told me that it was canceled. Being the person that I am I wasn’t too bummed. Later on in life I would have went back to bed and slept all day. But I was young so I had energy. I called up all my friends and we rounded up sleds and headed to our near by hill. This hill was special because all the other kids did not know about it; so it was never to busy. Being only a couple blocks from the house our parents would let us go by ourselves. Every snow day that we would have from now on we knew what we were going to do and where we were going to be.
The hill consisted of this big valley that ended up running through the woods. Before it go to the woods though you could sled down either side of the valley. This soon became a hot spot as we grew up. There were a lot of memories that we had at the hills. It was where I had my first kiss which was really EXCITING. Also became the first place my friends and I got drunk. About 200 yards back from the sledding area was sugar creek; which would become our swimming hole during the summer time. This place will always be in our memories. The good and bad memories that is.
As my friends and I grew older and started skateboarding; once it snowed we would have to turn to snow boarding. No where else better to try to snow board then our hill. Since skateboarding wasn’t too hard, snow boarding was not either. We were not professionals but we tried our hardest to be. We would build ramps that got bigger in size as we gained more experience. I was lucky enough to have never broken anything but two of my friends did. Once we were better we started snow boarding down the wooded side of the valley. Which we considered the advanced part of the hill; just because of all the trees you had to dodge. Forget the snowmen I think that every child’s past time is sledding.