Thursday, February 18, 2010

You're safe... For now

I forgot to upload the final column I did for my Journalism class. So, I thought I'd upload it today. My computer had different plans. When I plugged in my thumb drive (Yes, I save all my school stuff to a thumb drive, so what?) everything was gone. No documents, no pictures, no folders, nothing. I thought the same thing I always think when something bad happens on my computer: nothing. I just sat there, staring at the empty folder as if that could fix it. When that didn't work I ejected it, put it back in, and clicked to view contents. No change. So I did what any self respecting pacifist would do and acted like nothing happened. So now I have one less column to post and you should consider yourselves lucky. That was the last column anyone would have seen from me. Now I have to think of something else to type for the public. Give me some ideas.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

It's a little preachy, but...

“Giving Thanks”
By: Robin Forrey


Thanksgiving is the time of year where you give thanks for what happened throughout the year with family members. Some families will visit with relatives in other countries, or vice versa. Some families celebrate it with friends. Some just sit at home in front of the TV and watch episodes of “The Simpsons” while eating turkey sandwiches. Whatever you fall under, you give thanks to the Superior Being(s) that you worship for what happened throughout the year.

You can give thanks for all kinds of things. It may be about little things, such as thanking someone for opening a door for you. It could be about important things, like getting that passing grade for an important class that you can’t pass high school without. It could also be about things important to you, like finding out you had just enough money to get that very awesome game that just came out. Or it could even be about silly things, like thanking the Superior Being(s) for supplying you with breathable air. No matter what, there is always something to thank someone or something for doing for you or to others.

Thanksgiving, from my point of view, has evolved (Or, perhaps, the proper term would be devolved) into pretty much a large dinner where you say “Thank you” over and over again to remind you that something nice has happened to you and that you shouldn’t complain about anything, little or otherwise.

If you read too deeply into that last paragraph, you would think I was saying Thanksgiving is not important. Hey, even I thought that when I wrote the first sentence. But no, what I’m saying is that I believe the meaning of Thanksgiving has changed over the past few hundred years. Many people have different ideas of how the first Thanksgiving was. Some people think it was a celebration of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans coming together (at least for a day). Some believe it was because the pilgrims had an abundance of crops that day many, many years ago and decided to hold a large feast. Others believe there has always been a Thanksgiving sort of holiday where everyone would thank their god(s) for a successful harvest. Whatever the belief, they all tend to revolve around the year’s harvest and thanking some Superior Being(s) for the harvest.

Have a good Thanksgiving, and enjoy your harvested food!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Your first test of torture...

“We have nothing to fear…”
By: RobinIsBoris


Everyone remembers being told that there is nothing to fear. Parents tell their children that there is nothing under the bed, no monster in the closet, and so on until the child is old enough to tell itself that there is nothing in the closet or whatever. But with all the horror movies, murder novels, and many other things with giant spiders or demon clowns involved it can be hard to remember and the one thing that “doesn’t exist” sure does seem to exist right about now.

Everyone has their fears. Heights, clowns, dentists, long words, other people… Things that do not seem scary to you will scare someone else into a coma. You have a certain fear that trumps all other fears and you know it. Something that just mentioning the word related to it will make you cry out and hide under the covers. Of course, you may not know what your ultimate fear is yet, but you do have alternatives that still scare you, and admitting that you do is the important thing.

The funny thing about fears, also called “phobias”, is that they always have an alternate Latin name that you will remember when you see your fear. Obviously, you don’t have verbophobia or you wouldn’t even be looking at this. Don’t get it? Verbophobia is the fear of words. If you’ve ever seen that one certain scene in the old movie “Mary Poppins” and covered your ears in fright you may have Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, or the fear of long words. For those evil enough and have a thing FOR words, use that in the next letter you send to someone that only use small words and watch them react.

Of course, I am not saying that you take what someone’s deepest fear is and use it for some easy comedy, no matter how fun it is and how much you will laugh. If you are a good friend you will try to keep those things away from the person. If you are an even better friend you will use it against the person until they say “I’m not scared of that anymore”, and then use it once more to test them. Only if they are truly unafraid should you stop messing with them. But if that does happen you should go out and find another fear to use against them and laugh at the resulting screams of terror that result from a successful job at finding the right fear.

No matter what happens, everyone will fear one thing or another. The only reason they aren’t scared of anything is because they haven’t seen the thing that scares them yet. If someone never goes to the beach and has never seen the epic movie “Jaws”, they will say they aren’t scared of sharks, but show them a single clip that includes the vicious killer and watch them change their opinions.

To those bored enough to read this...

Welcome to The Once-A-Month Blog. As you should probably have guessed by now, I'm most likely going to post in this MAYBE once a month. That's if you're unlucky enough. It's mostly just going to be the things I write up for Journalism class. Only the columns, though. Don't want any critique on the crappily thrown together stuff. I'm not a big questioner, which makes it a miracle that I'm even passing that class >.< The only time I will break this "Once a Month" goal is when I want to try something new, and the post right after this one is because the column was done last month and I'm posting it up now because I didn't have a blog.

Oh, and by the way, my mom was the one that "Encouraged" me to start a blog again. What happened to the last one? Never posted in it after the first couple of months. Got bored and nothing happens to me. Ever. Of course, "If you just get out more," she's sure I'll have something of even mediocre interest to others will happen to me. If there IS someone that is interested in some things I am, leave a comment. Just remember what you're getting yourself into if you do comment.