The end of an era

I'm not really sure what to write about this time around, so I'll just muse a bit about the huge leap I am planning on making next year. I have been in the military for over 10 years; I joined shortly after the horrific events of 9/11 and I've been proudly serving my country since. My career choice has taken me all over the world, and I have experienced many things (good and bad) that have shaped me as a person. But things are changing. Now that the wars are winding down, the Army is becoming a different place. We are beginning to see the return of the "garrison military", where bureaucracy rules and leaders are more worried about appearance of uniform and proper memorandum formats then the mission we are still expected to accomplish. This troubling trend, along with the problems of our current administration, has led me to the decision to leave the military.

Although I love my job and the people that I work with (most of them anyways), I am tired of the constant deployments and the uncertain schedules. I am ready to settle down in a nice place and work toward my goal of attending medical school. I have a little over a year left before I can take my first step on this journey, and I can't wait.

Here Comes the BOOM

 

Here Comes the Boom Film Review

 

 

 

                 This movie features the actor Kevin James. Kevin plays the protagonist Scott, an ordinary high school Biology teacher. When Scott's school falls into a deficit, a friend in need becomes at risk of losing his job as the school's music teacher and will be letting his students down. Scott, the music teacher, Marty, and the school nurse, Belle, come together in order to raise enough money to save the music program. When raising the money, Scott discovers a faster way to collect money.... Mixed Martial Arts. Becoming a more skilled fighter and a more committed teacher along the way, he receives unfortunate news about how the assistant principal was embezzling their funds the whole time. Now the only way to save all that they've worked for is to fight and win in the brutal UFC.

 

 

                 If you want to know the ending you'll have to go see it! I absolutely loved it and the theme behind Here Comes the Boom and the example it sets for children and adults alike.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to see that movie!

 

Caden Fredlake

Electronics and Society

     People have forgotten what a conversation consists of. With all the technology, blogging, texting, online video games, children have lost their sense of imagination. There is no need to go outside and play when you can sit inside and play video games all day. What happened to the times when children played with mud pies? Somehow, it's unsafe to eat mudpies these days. Although, children were doing it for years and everything was alright then.
     A sense of self comes from physical interaction amongst others. What becomes of these children if all the electronics are taken away; do they even know how to communicate otherwise? A thing I have started to do is interact with my daughter everyday, without the use of technology. We use good old fashion conversation, no laptops, cell phones, tablets...etc. I try to plan something fun or something that doesn't sound fun and make it interesting. One time we just drove around and looked at the nearby neighborhoods, getting lost and finding out how to navigate our way out turned out to be fun.She now looks forward to these days.
     I realized that something had to be done when we were sitting at home one day and my daughter asked what are we going to do today as she sit with her phone in her lap, playing video games. I got concerned and  angry. Children need to understand that writing love letters, like I use to do in high school has more meaning than a text. It's something you can look back at and see, years later. Actual interaction is more personal and rememberable than all the electronic devices. What future does society have. Before long there will be no more libraries for people who want to read a book because now everything is downloaded onto a Kindle. This is a sad truth.  

A big debate about car fanatics nationwide is which brand makes the best most dependable truck. The top three consist of Chevy, Ford, and Dodge. The order depends on the location, and preference. There are a multitude of factors that people look at when deciding what truck to purchase. These things include the features, the past reputation of the car maker, and the overall look of the vehicle its self. In my personal opinion, Dodge makes the best truck and that is why I drive a Dodge Ram. I also grew up around a Dodge dealership in my family which has made me bias toward Dodge.

 Many features that are important in a truck are the amount of weight it can haul, the engine size, gas mileage and the list go on and on. Many people use trucks as work trucks so those things are important. The owner needs to be able to haul a lot of weight and use the least amount of gas doing it due to the high gas prices. The past reputation is important because if a maker has a history of producing bad trucks then people are unlikely to buy a truck from them. If someone looks at a truck and they don’t like the look then they won’t but it, simple as that. So, truck manufactures have to make sure their truck looks presentable and people enjoy the truck overall.

People will debate this for the rest of time, there will always be people biased toward one make over the others and there is no way to stop that. This argument is more up to personal opinion rather than facts and it stands to remain that way.

Tuition Assitance for Soldiers

This ongoing issue is what has been a really problem in the past few weeks and continues to be an issue at hand as the government stopped with TA(tuition assistance) for students who are Soldiers to pay for college. It is really a hot topic right now and I can relate in so many ways. For one,  if it weren't for TA, I would of never started college. Soldiers actually join the military for school to be paid. That is a number one benefit that the military offers, and it has been taken away. I can not imagine how many Soldiers have been affected by this decision. What are these Soldiers suppose to do now?

I just read up that the Association for the US Army (AUSA) are waiting for the President of the United States signature to bring back TA. This is one good thing that an association has brought this to the table to fight for the Soldiers to be able to receive something that they so deserve. Unfortunately, what has happened in the past few weeks have left many Soldiers in debt, or not able to take classes, leaving them in a bad situation.

Soccer

"It’s the way you feel when you step on the field that lets you know you couldn’t live without this sport."

Lacing up my cleats, while peering out over the field before a match, I would be filled with such excitement. Just the thought of the ball hitting the back of the net would put butterflies in my stomach. I never felt truely at home until I stepped foot on the field, surrounded by ten of my best friends on the field with me and family watching in the stands.

Soccer wasn't just a game to me, it was not only a passion for me but also a lifestyle. Yes, I was the kid who took a ball with him wherever he went. It never left my side, well in this case feet. I played soccer all year round, and not once did I grow tired.

Soccer, football, futbol, or whatever you want to call it is my passion. I can't get enough of it.

Comic Bros. Inc. (Just an idea)

So after reading some of the New 52 comic books  and having a deep love for superheroes, especially Batman, my friend and I have come up with the great idea to create our own comic. It just came to us one day at his house. We were talking about DC comics mainly Batman and Justice League and said, "we can do this" and so we did. Currently we are still in the brainstorming process but we plan on creating our first comic by the end of the summer.

During lunch we try to think of heroes and villains and cool background stories of how they come to be but so far we have nothing. One thing we do have is the name of the superhero group which will also be the title. A few weeks ago in Professor Zieren's class we were going over the League of Nations and the document that they agreed upon titled Article X. The jest of Article X was that if any other nation was under threat the other nations that were a part of the article would converse and come to a conclusion on how to offer aid to the nation in trouble (this is a poor summary of it but you get the idea). The article basically reminded us of the JLA and Avengers because of its close similarity of how both superhero organizations work. Now, at first I didn't like the name but after a while my friend convinced me and we stuck with it.

We discussed who would do what by each others strength and weaknesses. My friend and his brother, who will also join us, have extraordinary drawing capabilities from years of practice. I on the other will be mainly be creating the story board and writing any other material because it's what I've always wanted to do and it's what I do best. They told me I should start drawing too because people with neat handwriting sometimes have a great potential of being equally great drawers. However, I declined and said that I don't really have the patience to do so but they still keep pushing me to the subject whenever we start talking about comic ideas.

We hope one day we can get our comic published by one of the major companies, but right now it's just a dream. If it doesn't work out then we talked it over and thought of moving to Japan and creating Manga because my friend said he is better at that type of drawing than the super in detail American comics. I would still do the story of course because I can't let my friend do all the work.

Only so many hours in a day

Life has become overwhelming. In the first 100 days of 2013, I have done more than I can begin to track. When the train keeps on rolling, it's easier to look toward the final destination than to appreciate every beautiful sight you see along the way. It's paramount that we take the time to appreciate the journey, and soak in every experience.

In the first 100 days of this year, I have done more than any span of 100 days in my life. I started taking the steps toward achieving my second degree by enrolling at APSU. I got married. I started playing intramural basketball and kicked off a new season playing softball. I quit my job. I found a new job where the hours are practically inexistent.

It's so easy to get distracted along the path when you have a goal in mind. All of these major events are markers... but I still take time to appreciate the little things. Every little think I do with my wife make for more valuable memories than most of the accomplishments I achieve. Every nap, every meal, every day. Each and every moment with her is more golden than the last. Everything I do in this life is better with her to share it with.

There are only 24 hours in a day. So far this year, I have started staying up to enjoy as many hours with her as I can. Truth is, 24 hours isn't enough. I want every moment I can claim with her. As the days start to bleed together, time is flying faster than ever. There is so much to do, and I'm happy to take the time to smell the roses with her at every stop. Every little event is just so much sweeter when I have her to share it with. With the map laid out toward our future, I take great comfort in knowing that we can make pit stops along the way with the woman of my dreams.

Modern Inconvenience

I have appreciated the modern conveniences provided by the internet. Communication is simpler now than when I was a child. I remember the days of writing letters by hand and waiting a week for a response to come by mail. These days, thanks to the internet, I can make a post and everyone in my inner circle knows what is currently going on in my life in a matter of seconds. Convenient, right?

The convenience of posting on Facebook recently lead to a major inconvenience for me. Last month, I took a road trip to New York City with  my girlfriend. We were engaged when we left Tennessee, and decided we should get married while we were in NYC. On the last day of our trip, we got married in Manhattan. Running low on time following the ceremony at the city clerk, we had to rush back to the hotel in order to check out on time.

We were in such a rush to hit the road that we didn't take the time to think of making phone calls to family. I wanted to tell my family face-to-face, so that they could understand how wonderful the day truly was. During the drive home, my wife posted the news on Facebook to let all of our friends know the big news. As fate would have it, my mother just so happened to make her once-a-month Facebook visit that morning. She was crushed that she found out about the wedding in such a fashion.

Initially I was upset that she was offended. I learn the vast majority of life's happenings amongst my friends through the internet. How can someone get mad about something that should be celebrated? It's easy to lose sight of the impact that modern conveniences can have on older generations. There is a personal touch that's lacking in the expression of personal news delivered on the internet. Moving forward, I will not be posting big news on Facebook. It's not worth the headache!

Tennessee Weather

I have lived in Tennessee since 1998,when I was 7 years old. All the years I've lived here the weather has always been crazy. I lived in Clarksville until 2012 and now live in Rockwood,Tn and the weather is still crazy. Just yesterday, it poured then stopped then poured again. This was all within an hour. Ha, I wonder if any more snow will be here.

I do love Tennessee though. I plan on going back home to Clarksville to live again this summer. Rockwood is nice but I miss the city I know.

Once again I am a lost for words. I have no clue what to type of share with you all, but if I had to pick something I suppose it would one of my hobbies. I greatly enjoy video games, video games are like a calling to me. It's been that way since I was a young child and the first game I ever played was Freddi Fish for the PC. The time when Windows 98 was the thing, and graphics weren't even as good as your current cell phone. So videos games the pinnacle of imagination. It allows you to be anything and everything, from a brave adventurer to an assassin   Very versatile  one of my all time favorites is the Elder Scrolls Series. I really enjoyed Morrowind, and Oblivion, but the best one they have by far is Skyrim. A giant sandbox game with limitless possibilities. I just love the game, it's huge, its adventure, it's just fun. I really don't now what else to say, I've tried blogging but it just came out as rambling. Should I just ramble? I don't know.