Helper. A poem by me.

Alone on a desert island.

Surrounded by ashes that were once bridges.

Looking for a boat

A fish

Anything

Something that will come.

Come close enough

Into the shallow

To meet me where I am,

To lead me into the deep

To save me if i start to drown

To guide me to the mainland.

I never was a good swimmer.

The Pen (or tongue) is Mightier Than the Sword

I'm sure we've all heard that saying in some form or another. It's so true. It's been around for centuries. Even the book of Proverbs says , "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thomas Payne, "Get on doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword." Even Shakespeare knew. "Even rapier s are afraid of goose quills..." (Hamlet). Why is it that we don't know, or seem to even care?

I look at the news and it seems like the gossip stories have a higher place than what's going on around the country. Haiti Relief has been replaced with "How is Sandra Bullock coping with her cheating husband?" or "Lindsay Lohan is still partying way too much." Who cares. We have become a society of Perez Hiltons. (no, I'm not personally dissing you Perez, although I highly doubt you'll read this). I think the E! channel gets higher ratings than CNN.

What am I getting at? Gossip. Hatred. Lies. It's all there. No, not in the Enquirer, on Main Street. It's almost as if everyone wants to look better. But it's not easy to make that happen by doing positive things, so we tear each other down. Why must we contstantly attack each other? What good does it do to talk about a person behind their back? Does it make you feel better about yourself? I know you aren't educating the public about how horrible of a mother so and so is, or how Jane McPhee is having a little too much chardonnay too early in the day. Why did Mike lose his job? Well, they were having cutbacks, but within a week, it becomes Mike got fired because he got arrested for cooking Meth. We should help others. But if we can't, then we can at least not harm them (Dalai Lama).

Pee-Wee Herman repopularized "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." I don't know about you, but a broken spirit takes longer to heal sometimes than a broken rib. If you don't think words can cause damage, ask Phoebe Prince's parents. She decided it would be easier to not exist than to suffer the taunting of her classmates any longer.

What do we accomplish when we say hurtful things to, or about, each other? How does that make this world a better place? With all that is going on, every little bit of good we can do helps. Before you speak, think. I know it's hard sometimes not to join in on the hating, but perhaps if we all do our part, it will end.

BCS Football Folly

Ahh, football season is in its prime. For the NCAA, it's bowl season. For the NFL, the six playoff spots in each division are mostly all for the taking, except for the Colts and Saints, who have already clinched their respective division title, with 12-0 records each. So much is wrong with football though.

Let's start with The NCAA. College football uses the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, which should stand for the Bringing Cash Series. With the BCS in place, only two teams get to play for the National Championship. So basically, no matter how good a team is, and how much they may seserve it, if they have one bad week, they are out of the National Title game. As a Texas Longhorns fan, I am happy with how it turned out this year, with the Longhorns facing the Alabama Crimson Tide for the BCS Championship. Problem #2 for the BCS is that it uses only the six big conferences (Big 12, ACC, SC,Big 10, Pac 10, & Nig East) for its selections into the BCS bowl games, the Fiesta Bowl (Phoenix), Orange Bowl (Miami), Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), and Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA). The BCS Championship game is now a seperate game and is now rotated between the Now, of the five undefeated teams in D1-A football, three are from these big conferences (Texas-Big 12, Alabama-SEC, & Cincinatti-Big East), plus four "At-Large" spots. TCU and Boise State are from the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences, respectively. Now unless one of these teams from a "lesser" conference is in the top ten of all of college football, they are not garaunteed to play in a BCS bowl game.
What the NCAA needs is a playoff system of some sort. Every other sport, college or pro, uses a tournament-style playoff to decide its champion. Dan Wetzel, a Yahoo! Sports columnist agrees and came up with a bracket similar to what I have thought of. There are 11 conferences in the NCAA, so a 16 team playoff picture would be best. The champions from each conference, plus five at large spots, would make a great playoff. This way, great teams that may not win their conference could still have a shot at the National title.

Now, for the NFL. I have no problems with the league or its players, but fantasy football is changing the way fans view the sport. Fantasy football managers like to have certain players on their teams, such as Payton Manning, LaDanian Tomlinson, etc. Being that I have played since '01, I have also had some staples players for my teams. Before, it was Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison. Today, Thomas Jones and David Akers seem to help my team consistently. As a Cowboys fan, I should not be rooting for Philadephia to do well. Yesterday, for instance, I found myself rooting for Steve Smith, WR for the New York Giants, to score. The problem was that they were playing my Cowboys. Where has team loyalty gone? Why am I suddenly likeing the Chargers because I have LaDanian Tomlinson on my fantasy football team?

Is Fantasy Football ruining football fans? Does having a game on the line in a cyber football game excuse you from rooting for your favorite team? Should the BCS be done away with and college football turn to a tournament style playoff system? Let me hear your thoughts.

It's Been Awhile....

It's been awhile since I could stand on my own two fet again...

Yes, It has been about 4 months since my last entry. For that, I offer no explaination. But here I am, writing to you again.

A lot has happened over the past month. I've moved from Rockport, back to Pleasanton (Yes again), and I've started a new job working with my dad as an electrician. I've also decided to go back to school; I'm one credit shy of being a Junior in college. I figure I've come this far, why not just finish? I haven't really finished much I've started in the past few years. I've also deided to start living healthier, cutting out sweets and chips and stuff and exercising a lot more. Possible training for a half marathon in Novermber. I wonder if I could do it.

Some goals I've set for myself:

Lose 20 lbs by Nov 1
be able to run in the SA Rock N Roll Marathon in Nov 2009 (Half Marathon)
Start back to School in January 2010
Get my associate's degree in May 2010
Graduate with a degree in English with Teaching Certification

I know it doesn't seem like much, but they are reasonably feasable if I work hard.

What do you think?

*edited for your viewing pleasure*

I just don't get it. Why is it that because I am a certain age, I am expected to have my whole life planned out and be making all this money and have 2.8 kids, a mortgage, and a Portuguese Water Dog (that's a whole nuther rant right there). But seriously...I'm not married, I have no kids, so what's the big deal? What's wrong with me enjoying life? Yes, I admit I do need to be more responsible sometimes, but the expectations some people have? c'mon now.

I do have a career in mind though, one that will allow me to use my talents, gifts, and what I love to do, and put it all together. I wanna be an editor. Not like for books and such, but editing video and such. Opening my own production studio would be amazing to say the least. Of course it would have to be part time to start, but with enough drive, and God's direction, I could really do this. Support would be helpful as well. There's some stuff I'm gonna be working on this week and maybe I'll put it on my youtube page if it's good enough.

That is all.

No pressure

Hopefully this will be the only serious post I ever make...

So the pressure is off me. My sister announced to the family that she is expecting her first child. My mom went berzerk. It's awesome news that I'm gonna be an uncle. What's even better though, and most selfish, is that all pressure from my female parental unit for me to make her a grandma. Seriously, I can barely take care of myself, much less a baby human as well.

What is the big deal that I don't want to have kids yet? Someday, yeah a family would be awesome, but right now it's not in the picture. I mean, why have my own when I can play with my friends' kids and give em back whenever they decide to cry or poop or throw up or whatever.

I mean just becasue I'm 28 (holy crap I'm old), doesn't mean I have to be at the same stage my paren't were at when they were my age. They had 3 kids when they were in their late 20's. I couldn't handle that. Things are different now. People don't get married at 18 and have kids at 20. My generation isn't into that. Of all my friends, only a few are married and/or have kids. It's just not my time.


That is all.