At first, I was skeptical and for the most of the year, resentful. However, after seeing my classmates’ hero movies and reading the Alchemist, I’ve actually started liking the hero journey more than I could have imagined not too long ago. When I apply the hero journey to my own life, I see things in a completely different way. I see my life as an adventure with a great call that I need to fulfill, and I also think that I see things in a more positive light. For example, say that I get a flat tire and I’m stuck on some country road. Usually I would get pissed off and curse my luck, but maybe if I wait, someone coming my way will stop and help me and that person turns out to be a lifelong friend, or something along those lines. Everything happens for a reason is a pretty consistent theme in the Alchemist, and the thought that this could be true makes me feel better about any troubles I may encounter.
I remember not too long ago when our class did that water balloon reflection, I said I didn’t believe in fate. Now I’m not so sure of that belief. The idea that our life stories and the history of the world could be written by the same hand, makes me feel like everything is going to work out as it should.
This year’s class has definitely been my favorite English class at Brebeuf and maybe even my favorite class so far. I’m going to miss it very much next year. Tomorrow is the last day…..
I’m talking about the band that I’m listening to right now.
Info:
Formerly known as Cherry, New York’s rock-meets-electronica duo Ratatat features multi-instrumentalist/programmer Evan Mast and guitarist Mike Stroud. Mast is also the brains behind the pretty laptop pop of E*vax, and with his brother E*Rock he runs the indie electronic label Audio Dregs. Stroud also plays, in the studio and on tour, with artists including Ben Kweller and Dashboard Confessional. Between these duties (and Mast’s job as a graphic designer), the duo found time to work on their collaboration. Mast worked beats and song ideas in his bedroom studio, which he gave to Stroud to develop while the guitarist was on the road. Though Mast and Stroud began working together in 2001, things began to really come together for the pair in 2003: in May, while they were still called Cherry, they played their first gig; by September they changed their name to Ratatat; and that November they issued their first single on Audio Dregs, which had a limited run of 1,100 copies. Dates with Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and Battles followed, and Ratatat signed to XL Records. The duo’s self-titled debut album arrived in spring 2004, coinciding with another round of dates with bands including !!!, Electrelane, and Tortoise, and two years later their sophomore record, Classics, was released.
For starters, I recommend listening to Germany to Germany from their self-titled debut album. Make sure you turn the volume up loud because it makes the silent parts of the song so much more intense. Also, playing it in your car/home theatre/headphones will help the effect.
Are we still supposed to be updating our blogs or should we focus on our nings? This technological guineau pig odyssey leaves me stupefied more than it should.
This weekend left me exhausted with 5 games of lacrosse in 2 days at the Midwest Jesuit Lacrosse tourney. Luckily I had a 3 day weekend so I could spend my extra day on my Rube Goldberg project due tomorrow and finish my ninging. I can’t decide whether I would rather spend all my time doing all of these things and be exhausted or do nothing and be bored. I think that the key to life is balance, which I think is getting harder and harder to find in our world of extremes.
I’m working on keeping my star log up to date since I’ve actually been reading a lot lately. I finished The Sparrow over break, along with The Year of Living Biblically and Animal Farm. Currently I am reading The Know-it All which is about a man who reads the entire EncyclopediaBritannica.
I’m beginning to see why everyone says that Junior year is the hardest year of highschool. Hard classes, SATS and ACTS, AP exams, sports, and extracurriculars take up all of my time. I wish I had two breaks again this semester because lacrosse is stricter and more time-consuming than cross country is. This year we have a curfew before games of 11:00 PM where our coach will call our houses and we have to talk to him to make sure we don’t stay up. It’s pretty ridiculous and I don’t know if it’ll last but that’s just one example of the dedication that our coach wants from us. This weekend’s weather was amazing and I spent much of my time outside enjoying it. Although I didn’t have time to do it this weekend, one of my favorite things to do in nice weather is ride on a longboard.
Main Entry: longboard
Part of Speech: n
Definition: any extra-long surfboard or skateboard
They’re sweet. One of the craziest videos I’ve seen of longboarding is this one right here where two guys bomb some hills in Claremont, California in suits while carrying an HD camera that they pass to each other.
Even though it rained today, I hope that the weather stays at least this warm. For the past three days I haven’t regretted living in Indiana, so the weather better keep this up…
This weekend, I went to Chicago for the Dad’s trip for the third time. I went to Borders, Argo Tea Cafe, the Autoshow, Cafe Med, and Second City during my stay. The autoshow was interesting because I’d never been to one before and I had no idea what it would be like. The most surprising part of the trip was the Second City show entitled: America:All Better! Last year’s show was unimpressive but I really enjoyed this year’s show. I think the reasons that this show was better are a new cast, a lot of material to work with (election, economy, IL mayor), and better writers. Patrick O’Brien’s acting was very impressive especially when he very convincingly pretends to propose to another member of the cast in the middle of the show. Chicago is great because you can order deep dish pizza delivered to your hotel at 2am when you need a snack.
is a hilarious fake news organization that publishes many satirical news articles. Most of them are ridiculously far fetched, but this article written in January of 2001 is almost dead-on in some of its predictions.
This weekend I finished Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary. It was an interesting read. It didn’t have any climax or major change throughout the book it just sort of kept on going. The main character of the book, Paul Kemp, is terrified of growing old and everyone in the book is an alcoholic. It definitely reminded me of The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. Apparently the book is going to be adapted into a film this year with Johnny Depp as Kemp. Depp was also the main character in an adaptation of Thompson’s book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas so he will probably be a good fit for the part.
Death is a natural part of life. It has been less than a year since the last funeral I attended. I’ve spent most of the day reflecting and I guess the most important thing I’ve come to realize is that life is short. I read a quote this weekend that went something like, “Life is just a short flash between two eternal darknesses,” and I think it’s important to remember how finite our time on Earth is. We really do not spend enough time just being grateful to be living.
Here is a song written by Jimi Hendrix about his mother who passed away when he was 16.
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