I Hate Mondays

Every night while I lie in bed I always review my day and think about the progress, both short-term and long-term, that I have made in that day. Then I think about the next day and find things that motivate me and will get me out of bed with excitement for the day. I try to make these motivators a constant for me time, so a weekly motivation is best.

I cannot seem to find anything on Mondays that really motivates me. Sure, my Young Democrats meeting every Monday is fun, but it is not really fun and exciting.

Tuesdays I have rock climbing class which I love!

Wednesdays I can watch the latest episode of Running Wilde on Hulu.

Thursdays I go climbing again for class and the latest episode of Modern Family is on Hulu.

Fridays are big days! I go climbing again, outside of class and Hulu, the latest episodes of Community and The Office have been posted. Furthermore, it’s Friday.

I like Saturdays and Sundays, well, for obvious reasons. It’s the weekend and I get to sleep in. Plus on Saturday nights I go to Crosby Student Center with friends for Trivia Night and win prizes.

And now we’re back to Mondays. Nothing. Well Mondays, I guess you’re just plain out of luck. That age old tradition stands; Mondays suck - I hate Mondays.

My First Month Away at College

Well my friends, it’s been over a month that I’ve been away at college at Gonzaga and I’ve certainly been getting a lot out of it.

I have been offered the positions of editor for three Gonzaga publications but I only accepted one as it worked with my schedule best. I’ve been on the cover of the school newspaper twice.

I have memorized all the names and faces of the students in my classes. Twice my history professor has called me out in class to explain the downfall of the Roman Republic and the innovation of the Roman Empire.

I keep my room as clean and orderly as possible. While my bed is as comfortable and relaxing as a hot bath, I make it with enough perfection to bounce a basketball off of the comforter. The girls in the room above me then use the basketball to play a game of 2-on-2 in their room on the weekends. The noise is bothersome so I occasionally take long walks out on the campus and draft essays in my head for which to improve humanity. Because of this, though, I only sleep a few hours each night, but you know what they say - the night is only half the day.

The committees for academics, athletics, and campus security have all sought to recruit me. Though I am underage, the Board of Trustees frequently invites me to their wine and cheese socials. Being a transfer student, I’m not eligible for the honors program, yet I have been offered an honorary degree by them anyway.

Every other Saturday the custodians and I repel down the sides and the steeples of the church to clean its exterior with a fine brush while we watch the sunrise.

Each Sunday, after church, I have brunch with the President and his cabinet. Afterword, we discuss the future of the university. In the springtime, the university and I are launching a line of college apparel in the student store as to promote a more classy college environment. Although elections are not until next spring, I have already been elected president of the student body for the 2011-2012 year.

Despite my lack of completed classes for my degree, the university offered to accept my application of graduation for the spring of 2011. I respectively declined.

Needless to say I’ve been enjoying my first month away at college. I think I like the way this is going.

Above When You Go Beyond

This was written as part of a scholarship application. The question is not important, but here's the answer, my answer.

The purpose for education is to advance one’s knowledge and capacity for success in life. I believe a student's status, or any one in general, should not be judged from where they have been, but where they are going.

I personally have my own dream to venture into the world of environmental law by the highest and most prestigious means possible. Not just possible for myself, but above and beyond myself. When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing left to lose, so why not take the endeavor to succeed in what’s beyond possible.

What I plan to do in environmental law is as limitless as a starry sky, and just when you see a shooting start, you say to yourself, “That’s where I want to be.” But the thing is, that shooting start has been and will go to many places. Still, you go where ever life takes you, and leave your memorable mark for all the people on the planet who can appreciate something as beautiful as a shooting star.

The Nature of Gravity

Sitting in the library as I was distracted from the book I was reading by a man riding a bicycle outside on the pathway, I couldn’t sway my thoughts from putting myself into his shoes.

My mind went first and then I was lifted above gravity itself as I felt the motions of what it is to ride a bicycle. Pedaling down the endless path with no destination but my own satisfaction I suddenly veered to the left.

An explanation I cannot give you except for the sensation of the smooth turn against the very nature of gravity. Why I turned left and not right I cannot say but I would never turn right for the satisfaction I want.

It will always be a left.

Opinion on Dead Poets Society

Last Tuesday I watched Dead Poets Society and while I have seen it before and found it intriguing, this time was different, very different. When I last saw it I believe it was in class during junior high or maybe even my early high school years. The point is it was a long time ago and so I was not as mature as I am now.

For those of you who have not seen this movie I would strongly recommend it and I would advise not reading on any further. I would not want these thoughts about the film to sway your own assumptions and expectations. We need to be clear on why I am writing this thought. Ever since last Tuesday when I saw the movie I have been deeply stirred up about things like conformity and following your dream or should I say “carpe diem.”

You see, in this story in 1959 Neil Perry is in his fourth and final year at Welton Academy, a college prep. boarding school, and we come to learn that his parents, particularly his father, are extremely strict about Neil’s future. He is to graduate high school, go to Harvard, and then to medical school - no question. But through many occurrences in the story, he pursues an acting role with all of his life’s passion as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream against his father’s command. Neil acts in the play and is greatly praised for his outstanding performance by everyone except his father. Later that night his father tells him that he will be leaving Welton, be sent to military school, then go to Harvard, and then to medical school. Neil is utterly distraught as the viewer is too and through a series of somber motions, Neil uses his fathers pistol to take his own life.

This is where I am left. There is part of me who thinks what happened was good because it’s what the father deserved but a greater part of me longing for Neil to have just run away from home so that he may act another day and follow his life’s passion and seize the day. This greatly disturbs me because I can surely assume that things like this have happened plenty of times and if only it wouldn’t have happened, that would be encouraging. That conformity and blindness were not so overwhelming and restricting on the youth, that would be encouraging. That we and they, the youth, were not so weary and discouraged by society’s one-way streets, that would be encouraging. That open-mindedness may prevail over the harsh circumstances that come to place fault amongst the innocent and the innovators of time, that would be encouraging.

Hard Work

Prelude

The importance of these stories are implied for the purpose of personal fortune in wealth and wealth alone.

Hard Work

Marcus grew up in a middle class household with a good amount of financial freedom, but not too much.

Marcus decided against college and went into the sales industry. To get by with what was asked of him, he would make his sales quota for the week. But instead of working from nine to five, five days a week like everyone else, he would work from nine to seven on on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and then from nine to six on Thursday. Now Marcus could have one extra day on the weekend.

"All with some good hard work" says Marcus.

James grew up in a middle class household, not too different from the one Marcus grew up in, and although more financially flexible than others, he still had his obstacles. But he always trusted the cause for good work.

Struggling to do so, James was a straight A student throughout all of high school and college. He graduated at the top of his class and went into the business of business. In less than ten years, overcoming countless personal triumphs, James had made his way to the top. Only 30 years old and already he had his own successful business, a mansion on Long Island, and enough fortune to support him and his family for the rest of his life.

"All with some good hard work" says James.

To Appreciate Peace

“Finally! We have those bastards out of the trenches and on the run.”

“So you’ve heard the news then?”

“How could I not! It is everywhere!”

“Hey, hey Franck! Did you hear the news!

“ Oui! It is a good thing they are leaving. Enough of this war business in our backyards and I would have left!”

Artillery burst overhead of Saint-Mihiel as roof tops crumbled to the ground and the streets were torn up. Germans came scattering through the town as one after another were swept off their feet for an everlasting sleep by the bursts of artillery. A frenchman stood up out of anger not for the Germans, “Aye its the French Army for god’s sake! Hey! General! You’re not out of France yet! What’re ya doing blasting through a perfectly good town!”

More artillery barrages hit the town hard. And so the town threw back more insults and complaints at the French Army.

The barrages ceased to be and the town regained themselves and without a word went to work sorting through debris and burying the dead. Not Franck though. Franck got on his bicycle and made his way to his house and when he saw that what was a house was no more he kept walking, without missing a step. He gathered whatever of his he could find and carry, stuffed it into a rucksack and rode right out of town.

He rode on south to the high meadows of the Swiss-Alps and he made a camp by a lake where he found peace. Over the years his camp became increasingly more permanent and to the day he is still there and will never leave.

Closed Encounters with a Foreigner

Taking a vacation like true vacationers my family and I took our time to wake up and get some breakfast aboard the Monarch of the Seas, a large cruise ship, so by the time we were finishing up with breakfast the room thinned out very much and we were just about to do the same. But before we did so an important looking Norwegian crew member stepped over to our table and made some friendly conversation with us. He looked out the window towards the shore some distance away and saw sunny Southern California. But that was all he knew about his view. Because when he saw large cluster of white buildings covering a mountain ridge he saw snow covered mountains and asked, "is that..how you say..Big Bear?" We disagreed with him and said it was only a cluster of white buildings and to keep things simple, left out obvious details from a Southern Californian. Soon after, the conversation ended and we went our own ways.

For a while my family and I joked about it and imitated his question. Then it was forgotten.

Looking back on it now I can see his logic, or at least that the question was not a foolish one. Seeing white on a mountain side can look like snow very much, especially if you're from Norway. But most certainly not if you're from Southern California. And, we all know that Big Bear is not located on the sunny coast of California. But Norwegians do not.

I would not expect myself to be any more knowledgeable about Norwegian geography than that man.

Reasons

My most recent adventure took me to the elusive mountains of Nepal, the Himalayas.

Before any more information is given away I have to come forward and say that even though mountains and slopes and ravines can be called 'treacherous' it is merely describing the ordinary. Yes they're treacherous but no more than freeways and Walmarts on Black Friday! You gotta look at the positive things in life! Challenge yourself to be optimistic! If you think a mountain is treacherous you shouldn't go near it, and if you do that you won't ever learn to know the mountain so how could call you judge it? Now take a moment to regain your self-esteem and confidence if you lost any.

Back to my mountainous excursions.

I lied.

I've never been to the Himalayas. But I've walked enough ravines, I've swam enough lakes, and I've climbed enough mountains to confidently say, I know my mountains.

But that's not the point of this story. The point is to know what you speak and challenge others to it.

If you don't agree with whatever it is I write, challenge me! But know that I will defend my point unless or until proven otherwise.

That is my reason for this.