[RE.] Reading Minds.

If I could pick any power, I could pick mind reading. I wish I could read minds, but I would also like to be able to block out ones I don’t care about. If I could read minds I could so much like find out who my real friends are, how people really feel about me, who my friend's are and who my haters are. - Violette

Wishing for the power to read minds is a dangerous one. Sure you can read someone's mind and know what to do or what to say, but with the positive side of having this power you have to keep in mind that there's negatives to it as well. There's things that people just don't want you to know. If you read someone's mind and they were thinking about something that would offend you, you'd get mad and they wouldn't know why the hell you are. And if they knew that you could read their mind they'd get mad at YOU for reading their mind. Either way, one of you ends up getting mad.

I'm just saying that if you could read minds that you'd get offended left and right. You'd know things that people don't want you to know. It wouldn't take that long for you to eventually have a grudge on everyone you know because you read their mind and it was something mean about you. Think about it this way, how would you feel if your mind was able to be read at any time? People are entitled to have their privacy and our minds are the only place we have to ourselves.

People can't help but be brutal and mean. It's one of the things that makes us human. Naturally we are selfish. If you were to see everyone in pure raw emotion, it'd be brutal. It's better off to leave people as a mystery. It's more fun that way and it's how things are supposed to be.

[RE.] SATs.

For some reason I've never even though about going to a Community College until recently. The allure of a 4 year college with big campuses and large lecture halls have always been my idea of what should happen after High School. The exciting dorm life surrounded by people that I have never met before is constantly pulling me towards that direction. The independent - ish lifestyle that goes as a package deal when you go to a UC or some other big school is what I need. -Adam

Every student goes into high school with a universal goal: to get good enough grades to go their college of choice. As the years go on, some of those visions start fading away when reality sinks in. Things don't go the way they want to and they have to start thinking of alternative routes. Unfortunately, this has come to be my case. By sophomore year I realized that I wasn't going to get the grades to get into my dream school. Fuck, by then I didn't even know what my dream school was. All I knew was that I had to get good grades and a scholarship so that my parents don't have to be in debt twenty years after I'm out of college.

I didn't realize how hard it was to get a full ride through college and I slacked. And by that I mean I slacked HARD. Now my only choice is community college and hopefully.. transfer. Actually, I don't even know if I want to transfer. The money thing is still troubling me. Even if I apply for financial aid, would it be enough? I don't know. These are the things I still have to consider even after I finish community college.

While everyone else goes to their UCs or states, I'll still be in community college, trying to catch up. It's a hard thing to realize but I know I have to anyways. I fucked up and I have to deal with it.

[RE.] Simply, music.

Why is it so influential? Have you just sat back and asked yourself is this really worth listening to? I feel as if music describes people in many ways. Believe it or not some of our actions are from the music we listen to, whether good or bad. - Justin

Ever since humans figured out how to make a rhythm and beat, music has been a major part in a lot of people's lives. The way it affects us is incredible, music could be thought-provoking, calming, energizing, and it has the power to make you feel or support emotions. Music could be one of the things you use to identify how a person behaves. I don't speak for myself when I say that you can probably look at a person and guess what kind of music they listen to.

I went through somewhat of a change when I started to acquire a different music taste. It was the beginning high school when my music taste started to drift off. In most of middle school I had a tough time finding what kind of genre I liked. So for the most part I ended up listening to rap, rock, metal, and basically all of the genres that everyone else listened to. I didn't have a certain style of music to call my favorite. But then my ears were opened to Nujabes and Emancipator. Hearing those two artists for the first time made me fall in love and gave me something to define myself as. I became exactly how the music sounded to me. Calm and chill.

[RE.] Photography.

One of my favorite pictures.

Alvin says,

The idea that I can capture a moment, an expression, a feeling in a single moment in time and keep that moment in time in a picture has always caught my interest.

It seems as if Alvin and I share the same idea. Or at least, shared. Photography caught my interest and became a small hobby for quite a while. I didn't have much to work with besides a pretty crappy Samsung point and shoot camera but I had to make due with what I had. In every part of each day there would always be a moment where it would just feel right to take a picture. I could describe it as one of those moments where you're looking at something and you notice that it would be a legit picture. Whether it was the colors I was seeing, a good perspective, or a good composition, all of those elements had to be there for the picture to be good.

I did the same project as Alvin did, Project 365, and that really helped me define my interest in taking pictures. I enjoyed having the opportunity to take a picture every day to describe what happened, or plainly something that I found interesting and decided to take a picture of. I suffered the same misfortunes as Alvin though, a lot of other things got in the way of taking and editing the pictures and it began to feel like a chore instead of a hobby. It would sometimes get to the point where I had a weeks worth of pictures backed up and had to edit all of them. So, I quit that too.

Nowadays my interest in photography isn't as strong, but it's still there. Sometimes I see things that spark up my desire to take pictures again, so I don't know if I'm going to end up restarting an old hobby.

[RE.] Time is slipping away...

I read a post by Alyssa sometime last week, but it didn't really hit me until now. Ms. Loy called me into her office to tell me that some of the credits I got from Spanish didn't count and I needed even more credits. So as a result I'm needing to take adult school on top of my already packed schedule. I can't really say that I'm sad since I feel like I brought this upon myself. But it's more of a disappointing kind of feeling. I'm already disappointed enough in myself to have done so badly in a.. 'critical' part of my life. Only now can I wish that I took the extra effort and initiative to finish everything early so the end wouldn't be so bad. Almost all of my friends have free periods and all I can do is sit here wishing I could be with them. My dream schedule was always a 0-4 period, I wouldn't mind waking up so early just so I get out of school at 11.

Whatever, I guess I'll treat this as a learning experience. My schedule is already going to run from 7-6:30, which is just as bad if not worse than the regular 9-5 adult workday. Instead, I'm going to have to deal with an almost 12 hour school day. This'll probably impact me the hardest because when I start working I can just look back and think 'Fuck, I used to work almost 12 hours' and find it in myself to suck it up and keep working.

It's a misfortune that senior year is going to be the most difficult, even when none of those classes are advanced. School has always been a challenge for me and I've already figured out that it really isn't my kind of thing. A lot of other people can say that but they're probably all lazy and just do things because it's mandatory. It's always been a struggle for me and senior year is going to be my ultimate test.

Note: For any underclassmen who happens to read this, DON'T FUCK UP.

[RE.] Things I want to do before I die.

So it seems like this topic has been getting around. Kevin is the one who originally posted the topic but soon enough other people like Joseph, Kristen, and myself have responded to it. The topic is pretty common, but that doesn't take away the thought provoking aspect of it. It makes an individual stop and think: "What do I want to accomplish in my life?" For some, they already have their future laid out and set in their mind and others are still trying to figure out things step by step. Some things on these lists are for pure enjoyment while the other things may still need to be asked the question, "Now how do I get there?"

First and foremost, I WILL make sure my parents live a lavish lifestyle, they have honestly worked hard to give me a good life and nothing I do can ever repay them back..... but I can try!

All of these guys have the same views with each goal, but who's to blame? The intentions are good and the dreams are within reach. Everyone [at least I hope] wants to pay back their parents because of the fact that we are a huge pain in the ass for at least 21 years. They have to manage and deal with our nagging, rebelling, sickness, welfare, and a lot more. Basically, every child wants to grow up to have the ability to give their parents the world.

 Traveling the world has always been a goal for me. I find most cultures intriguing to digest, not to mention the foods. To me culture is fascinating: the way of life of our own species somewhere else on this planet.

Traveling is also a major thing, but that's because it's so great! You're stuck in virtually the same spot for most of your life, so the thrill of experiencing something different is a great thing to crave. While you travel you get to see the beautiful geography of other continents, experience rich cultures, and overall you step out of that box you've always lived in. Personally I would love to go to Europe because the culture isn't that too far off from what I'm used to so I think it would be a good place to start. I also think the architecture of places such as Paris are beautiful. I would love to walk down those narrow streets with shops to my left and right. After that, well, only the world is left to explore.

I could honestly go on and on about the things I would experience before I die, but I feel like I should save it for later.