Mace Windu

I live around an hour away from San Francisco. I rarely go to the “city”, but when I do, it is a really amazing place. Other than being in California, the Bay is one of the first stops for tourists. For some reason the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz entertain tourists, but I have nothing against them.

I really like the atmosphere of the Bay a lot. There are so many cultures that are represented here. One big example is Chinatown. Chinatown offers so many things to look at. There is a lot of statues, great Chinese food, a look at some traditions and fortune cookies. I must say that fortune cookies are my favorite thing in Chinatown. It is also a place when Chinese New Year comes around, everywhere is filled with all kinds of joy. However this is a small part of the bay.

San Francisco is home to many famous places. Places such as the Full House house, ruins from the 1906 earthquake, and many other places. One place I always like to go to is Ghirardelli’s.  For those of you who do not know, Ghirardelli’s is a chocolate company. The Ghirardelli’s in San Francisco is the main one for the entire country. It is where the company was based and is in a nice location.  It has big bright letters just like the Hollywood sign. The location is right by the wharf and the letters can be seen by boat from quite a distance.

However, this is one part of the Bay. The Bay offers many restaurants and events to go to. One event that many people show up to is fleet week.  Fleet week is when the navy, army, marines, and other branches of the military come out to the Bay to show off their ships and guns. It is a fun event that everyone across the country comes to. It is usually held during the first week of October.  I have only been to fleet week once, but it was an amazing experience. I got to see the blue angels fly around the Golden Gate Bridge. They did some formations that I couldn’t perceive as possible. I also held my first M16 there. The soldiers were all very friendly and showed me around to different parts of the ship.

The Bay will always be home to me, because nowhere else is like it.

I recently realized how many ads there are, and what types of ads there are being projected. Let me start with butter. I’ve never really noticed it, but there are a ton of butter ads. Its either butter with non hydrogenated fats. Or its butter made with canola oil. It really takes time to notice how more prominent butter is than school books.

Second ads, I tend to notice is the cellular phones. AT&T is one of the more prominent cell phones ads. They try to take every single jab at Verison as they can. They hire famous actors and project images that could dissuade a potential customer.

I tend to see more cereal ads on a children’s network, such as nickelodeon or cartoon network. These cereals find new and better ways to hook the kids into the brand name. I imply that no child is immediately cuckoo for coco puffs. They use careful ploys to lure the children. They have grand prizes that look merely amazing. I mean if I was 8 again and I saw a kid going on a free limo ride to some concert. Then I would want to play and buy more and more cereal. The odds of winning are pretty low, but if you buy a ton of cereal, you should be bound to win, right? I think not, you’re bound to lose more money in the long run with buying the fruit loops than buying Total. However I have to admit, it is an ingenious ploy the cereal commercials have.

I ask myself, what makes a good commercial? I think its very simple, but hard to implement. One thing one needs in a good commercial is a hook. A hook is something that will attract the view of the viewer. It will persuade a person to stay on the channel and not change it. A good hook is something like sex appeal or a funny scene. Sex appeal is very prominent in our culture today. It usually makes women look very promiscuous, and not even human. Take the old spice commercials. It has a buff man in a towel at the beginning.

The second item in a commercial is that you have to get to the point. You can’t be twiddling your thumbs on camera, you have to be full with energy. Or like Verison and AT&T you have to show that your product is the best. The best does whatever it has to take to win over the people.

Usually commercials are really annoying, but when it’s Super Bowl Sunday, commercials become your best friend. These commercials are in a class of their own. They are purely meant to entertain the millions of people watching the Super Bowl. Some of my favorite commercials from the super bowl are the Doritos and Dos Equis commercials. I love the Dos Equis commercial because it makes “most interesting man in the world” so interesting. It doesn’t even make sense sometimes, but that’s why it’s so good.

That is what the third and final part of a commercial is. Something that is unforgettable. So when someone remembers the commercial it instantly puts a good memory into their head.

He has been nominated for Rookie of the year, a title that few are able to be nominated in the NBA. Stephen Curry is what many people call god send. Curry’s skills are phenomenal, but his real skills come from His fist year on the Golden State Warriors.

Just for some background info, the Golden State Warriors had a very tough year. Almost half their players were either injured or out due to personal reasons. This left around eight players left, only three men to sub in at any time. A normal NBA team has 20 to 25 players. Curry, fresh out of Davidson was drafted to the team. He brought a new light to the team. During the season more and more players were getting injured, and Curry had to carry the team. In a professional sport this doesn’t happen very often. Not unless you count the time where colt McCoy got injured and Garrett Gilbert had to play the rest of the BCS Championship, but that’s a different story.

I got to see Curry play once. It was my first NBA game for me. It was at the Oracle arena. It was a magical experience. The game was against the Utah Jazz, a formidable opponent, and even more importantly the last home game of the season. The Oracle arena was packed, with Warrior fans. Even though the season was not the Warriors best, the fans still came out to see them. I personally am not a Warriors fan, but since they are the closet NBA team to me, I have to give them some respect.

The beginning of the game starts with all the lights going out in the stadium, and what I call disco lights, line the rest of the stadium, flashing everywhere. That’s when the home team cam out. Each player approach the court individually, dances, and joins the rest of the team. Then, Stephen Curry came out. It was unbelievable how much noise was made when he came out. He did a really funny dance, and joined the rest of the team. The atmosphere of that moment was so inspiring for me. Everyone was truly die hard Warrior fans.

The game began and Curry and Monta Ellis were dominating over the Jazz’s defense. Those two had a brotherly relationship. The way they passed to each other was like they knew what each other was thinking. Curry would look like he threw the ball into open space. But in reality Ellis was there with the shot, or the rebound.

As the game progressed the Warriors lost their lead against the Jazz. However the fans never stopped cheering for the players. The smell of fatty foods and the wave put me in the spirit to cheer louder for Curry and the rest of the team.

In the end the Warriors lost. The Jazz had crushed their defense and had just played some great offense. I looked at Curry. Its his first year on the team and they didn’t even make it to Playoffs. Some guys on the Lakers never even play and they get to rack up some rings with the team. Nevertheless, he’s a kid that will grow to be one of the next Michael Jordan’s. He’s working his butt off, and eventually it will pay off for him and the Warriors.

So a while ago, I went rock climbing, and I realized that rock-climbing is very fun but physically demanding. I also realized that rock-climbing requires good team work for it to work.

To me, rock climbing has always been getting in a harness and going up to the wall and climbing. I was surprised to find out about belaying and the verbal commands. Also the harnesses were a lot different than the ones I had previously used.  The harness have a lot more straps for extra safety and also a special loop to hold the rope for belaying.

After getting into the harness, if you’re the climber you take the rope, make a small figure 8 and stab through the top of the figure 8. You repeat this process to make the knot extremely strong. The eventually will be hooked onto the climbers harness with a carabineer.

The first command is “on belay” if you are the climber. Then the belayer responds with “ Belay on”. That means the climber can start climbing the rock wall. The rope will eventually give slack and the belayer has to do a certain motion. They must pull the rope up and then down in a motion to reduce the slack. The right hand must never leave the rope. So the right hand must slide between the rope. This is a hard process to learn at first, because the right hand wants to leave the rope and move up due to the awkward position. For me, it was relatively simple but, tedious because my hands were extremely sweaty.

When I started my climb, the rocks were in positions that were easy for climbers. As I ascended the wall, the rocks became smaller and farther apart.  I had to use more and more of my upper body strength.  My mind screamed at me to stop. My arms could not take the strain. But I was so close to the top, I just couldn’t stop now.  The ground seemed so small. I could see the ant like figures of my classmates egging me to continue on the climb.

To pump myself up, I pretended I was climbing some famous mountain, such as Mount Everest or Mount Kilimanjaro.  I ascended through the clouds, the air was very thin. I could barely even breathe.  Just ten more feet to go. BAM.  The rock beneath my right foot slipped away. I held on with all my might. I didn’t want to plunge to my death.  I looked up at the top of the mountain.  There seemed to be some heavenly aura about the top. I drove the balls of my feet into the rocks, and made it to the top.

Back into reality, I called down to my belayer to let me come down. He slowly let me down. I watched my other classmates climb up while I came down. I was relieved to be on the ground again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of heights. Nevertheless the ground felt like Christmas to me.

The climb that I had completed was at a 5.6 level, a relatively average climb. The numbers are given by the USA Yosemite decimal system (YDS).  These are based on the steepness of the climb, the risk of the climb, the time to do the climb and the protection of the climb. The hardest climbs are the 5.12 to 5.15. These climbs are potentially dangerous.

I soon comprehended what it would be like to climb without a belayer or any rope. A free climb. The thought kind of scares me.  I mean no one can pull a Rocky IV and climb all the way to the top of the mountains in Russia by themselves, but then again, people do it all the time. For me I’ll stick to climbing trees and buildings. However I’ll take my lessons from rock climbing and apply them to my mediocre climbs.

Aberrant-deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type; exceptional; abnormal.

Tom appeared in his disheveled aberrant form, usually looking like he just walked out of bed.

Ducks on a pond is a good way to show the word aberrant because ducks are usually on a pond.

Anomaly-a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.

The SUV went under a sudden anomaly, when it started to fly.

This picture of penguins flying is a good way to represent the word anomaly because penguins usually don’t fly.

Endemic-natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; native; indigenous

Nerds are endemic to Technology high school, because at Tech High it’s natural to have nerds.

The picture of giraffes is  good to represent the word endemic because giraffes are endemic to Africa, they are natural to Africa.  

Incongruous-out of keeping or place; inappropriate; unbecoming

The boy was incongruous at the office, because today was “take your daughter to work” day.

This picture of M&Ms represents the word incongruous because the red M&M is out of place with the rest of the blue M&Ms surrounding it.

Mundane-common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.

The paper airplane was mundane, it lacked pizzazz.

This picture of paper represents the word mundane because a piece of white paper is very common and bland.

Outlandish-freakishly or grotesquely strange or odd, as appearance, dress, objects, ideas, or practices; bizarre: outlandish clothes; outlandish questions.

The girl’s prom dress looked outlandish, it did not match any part of her.

This picture of a weird creature is a good way to represent the word outlandish because the jellyfish type of creature does not look normal.

Paragon- a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence.

The valedictorian is a paragon to the whole class, he is a model of excellence.

FDR is a good example for the word paragon because he was a true model for success for the American people during the great depression.

Ubiquitous-existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time; omnipresent.

At Tahoe there is a ubiquitous blanket of snow, the snow goes for miles around with no patches.

This picture of nighttime is a good way to show the word ubiquitous because it shows that there is darkness everywhere.

Unwonted- not customary or usual; rare

It is unwonted to see teenagers up in the morning.

This picture of conjoined twins represents the word unwonted because it is rare to see conjoined twins.

I made  some good comments on this blog,

http://shadeslayer.edublogs.org/2009/12/07/a-generation-of-whimps/#comments

*My username blowingmyhorn.

And also some comments on this blog .

http://pantelonesblancos.edublogs.org/2009/10/23/did-you-hear-the-news/#comments

               One thing I have learned about taking college classes is to make sure you can get into the class that you need to get into, and once you’ve gotten into the class you want to, you make sure you stay in that class until the end. I realize why so many people drop out of college.  First there is a thing called priority registration. Priority registration is stupid in my mind. Well it’s stupid if you don’t have priority registration, but if you do have it then you’re all good. Priority registration lets you sign up for classes before the rest of the general public.  Now this means that the people that have that priority fill up classes that most people want to take. For an example let’s take an anatomy class, a class that usually fills around 80 students.  Within the first hour or two for priority registration anatomy class is full up and the other anatomy classes are also full, thus anatomy is a class you can only take if you gain priority registration. This brings me back to the topic of drop outs. If classes continue becoming full you might become frustrated. Such an example is that instead of taking 2 years at a local JC you could take up to 3 years before you transfer. You might decide that now with your new free time you could work more hours. Eventually those hours become your life and you drop out of school, but this is one case.

                 A class might be closed but that doesn’t mean you can’t still add the class. I know a bunch of people who have added classes, including myself, at the last minute, but adding a class isn’t that easy. First you have to have to attend the class so the instructor knows that you want to take the class. Then you might be added if there are spots open in the class. The open spots are usually sick kids or people who can’t make it. Then the instructor will add you if you attend more class, or if the open spots remain open. Now it becomes a competition of luck.  Usually in my experience, I have been with 25 other students fighting for 5 open spots. The instructor will pick names out of a hat or some other random order to decide who gets the spot. In my case I have never been that lucky.

                What ticks me off the most about not getting the class is the people that do get the class. Usually people will wait until the last day to drop the class with a full refund to drop the class. It’s around 3 weeks of class when the students that can’t cope start to drop. That’s why it makes me angry; I could have taken that class. Now days with the economy at a low people are careful about taking classes. Less and less people are dropping the class.

                One might wonder why I’m all worked up about this, mainly it’s because I’m going to start being one of the full time college students and I don’t want to end up dropping out. But I am an optimistic person and hopefully with some luck ill get the classes. Just a tip, usually I email the instructor before priority registration to save me a spot. Sometimes it works, other times it does not. It’s all up to the instructor.

So I’ve been in the football mood for quite a while now and I’ve wanted to give my two cents. I look at Brett Farve, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings and I realized he’s old, really old. Well he’s not that old, but he is old for the NFL. I always wonder why they keep a guy like him in the league. I mean he is fit enough to play and take those hits, but isn’t he playing with a bunch of kids? Brett Farve was drafted into the NFL in 1991 to the Atlanta Falcons. After staying with Atlanta for a year he would go on to his most famous team, the Green Bay Packers. On a side note, I know that some NFL teams have certain team mascots, but what the heck is a Packer? I honestly don’t know. Now Farve played 17 seasons with Green Bay and this is where he found most of his tactics and fame.

I remember when I was little watching a Green Bay versus San Francisco game and I watched Farve do his famous “Hail Mary” technique (no religious reference intended).  I realize now that technique is a last ditch attempt to win the game, and for him it worked almost every time. I think the Green Bay Packers sensed that Farve was turning into let’s say old dog, and would not keep up with the new draft picks. That’s why he was traded to the Jets and now to the Vikings. Maybe Farve should just pull a John Elway and retire when the fame is at his peak. But his peak is something quite admonishing. Farve has achieved some awards that show that having a 20 year long and present career have acclaimed to. Honestly I think Farve should retire now and live out his fame, that’s what I would do.

I suppose my thanksgiving this year was a lot better than last years. Then again this wasn’t the best thanksgiving I’ve had. Thanksgiving has always been a holiday that somewhat made me feel angry. My whole thanksgiving is spent usually at my house or my cousin’s house, but this year it was spent at my cousins.

Now at thanksgiving I usually play with my older cousins and brother. We play different games, ranging from Wii, to puzzles, to eventually just made-up games. This year we happened to have a deck of cards. Now there are many card games that I know, go fish, memory, BS, crazy eights, 7 hands, and more. I decided to get the smart idea that card towers were the way to go. In my family there are 7 of us cousins. So we broke up into 2 groups of 2 and one group to 3, I was in the group of three. This was first time I realized that I hate card towers. I spent nearly 2 hours of thanksgiving trying to make this great card tower. Every time I would get one up I would have to build another one near it. Of course I would mess up and it would hit the other tower and collapse everything. My team only completed 5 towers at one point and that was all we would accomplish. Now I tried to make a second story on the preexisting towers, but it failed. Eventually we got sick of making card towers and i had begun ranting about something because the other teams started to sabotage. They would just come up and nudge the table or throw something at the tower.

You can somewhat see why my thanksgivings are not the best. The one thing I love about thanksgiving is the food. I am a heavy eater in my family and I love the overabundance of food on the table. The turkey I realized must be a pain to cook. Around 5 hours is dedicated to the turkey in the oven, that doesn’t even include the marinating of the turkey beforehand. On a side note, I really want to know how they make turducken; I just find it completed amazing. It’s hard for me to comprehend how they put a chicken into a duck into a turkey. Once again culinary has trumped us all.  It was my first thanksgiving having cranberries, it’s not usually something my family has, but this year it happened to be on the table. I must say, these berries really had the cran in them. It was an explosion in my mouth of cran. But don’t think that I have a favorite thanksgiving dish. Cause I don’t. I’m one of those people that eat what is ever in front of me (I have my standards so don’t think that I eat literally everything). I learned at a young age to eat whatever was in front of me or I would go to bed hungry or on a bad note my parents would force me to eat spicy food to teach me a lesson, though it was a lesson that I never learned and also a reason I don’t really like spicy food. Bad memories. But I have no favorite thanksgiving dish; well there is one dish that I don’t like, pumpkin pie. I know people are going to give me their opinion that pumpkin pie is the best, but I just don’t see the appeal. I think that apple pie is way better than pumpkin pie. I like apple pie the best with a little whipped cream on top and some ice cream on the side. It’s between the cholesterol levels, clogging the arteries and heart attack.

 To end my thanksgiving I usually fall asleep on a random couch or bed (after dessert I’m stuffed to the max and this makes me sleepy). At this point this is where my cousins will start messing with me, like taking embarrassing pictures. Eventually I wake up from my doze and get really peeved. This is why my family calls me grumpy, but not to end on a bad note for this blog. I wish a happy holiday season to everyone, especially my friends.

                I decided that I would confront chief on the boat about the talking subject. It kind of seemed that he didn’t want others to know that he talked. I learned pretty soon that Mack’ two aunts weren’t actually his aunts. They were actually whores.

The list was almost full when I checked it that morning. Chief’s name was number nine and we needed a tenth person. Mack asked many people in the ward if they wanted to come on the trip, but Miss Ratched had scared them silly with her stories about the ocean and some boats. We finally got our tenth man, the germ-a-phobic guy George. Turns out that George actually knew a lot about boating and Mack made him our captain for the day.

Mack’s girls came late. Well one girl Candy, was the only one that showed up. She was the hottest girl I’ve seen in years, a lot prettier on the eyes than Ratched. The problem was that since she was the only one that came, she only had one car. The other girl had bailed on us. I could tell that Candy was no communist. Communist were not that pretty. She was also very young looking, this played into our favor. Mack thought quick when he saw the doctor eyeing Candy.

                So we got the doc to drive us to the ocean as the other car. Here’s another tad bit about me. I tend to pass out in cars, just not my thing. When a car stops I immediately wake up though, it’s the strangest thing ever. So when we drove to the ocean I was asleep the whole ride. I awoke to the smell of a sweet salty smell of the ocean.

                I looked at the men, their attitude was gloomy, really gloomy. Mack went to go to talk with the captain of our boat. That’s when these loafers started yelling at Candy. They said some horrible things. The most horrible part of it was that none of us men came to back her up. It really got me. Soon Mack came out and the loafers stopped saying stuff. Billy went to go comfort Candy, but it didn’t really go his way. Mack hurried us onto the boat because he had distracted the captain with a phone call. The doc didn’t feel right about doing that, but Mack just laughed as we boarded the boat.

                I had contemplated about my escape. I could swim away from the boat, no one would ever know.  But I couldn’t leave, not now. The men needed me; they would need me in other votes against the Nurse. If I was going to escape, I would escape with everyone, together. In my heart I knew that was the right choice.

                The men went right away to drinking and fishing. George drove the boat, while Mack and Candy went below the deck to do some adult stuff. They passed me a beer. It was a great moment. I was here on a boat fishing and drinking a beer with some real Americans. I got to see some of the men catch some really big fish, but the doc’s fish topped them all. We did a lot of laughing on the trip. We just laughed because the communism was nowhere near us, we were totally free out on the ocean.

                One thing I noticed was that Billy and Candy were getting really close. They laughed a lot and did a lot of touching. He must have liked her. Eventually the trip came to an end. We came back to the docks and there was two cops waiting there with the captain. The doc took care of them and we got in the cars, and drove back to the Hospital. Again I fell asleep on the ride back and it was the most pleasant feeling ever. When we got back to the ward all the men were still too happy to go to sleep. I learned that Billy had a date with Candy and we all congratulated him. Some was finally going right for these men and me.