Eternity

Which is harder to comprehend, the idea of nothing ever beginning or ending, or the idea of you just not existing anymore?

As far as I can tell, I've lived forever. I can't remember a time when I wasn't living. I don't know what its like to not be conscious. There has never been a time when I didn't wake up from going to bed. I go to bed one night, wake up the next morning. I've never experienced a day not coming after, its always been going.

Eternity is a hard thing to understand, but it makes more sense to me than a sudden stop. If we don't believe in eternity, what happens to us when we die? Do we just cease to exist? Are we stuck seeing a screen saver forever? Do we not see, do we not exist? I've never experienced not existing, and it scares me. The end idea doesn't make any sense to me. What happens to my thoughts deep inside? The thing inside of me that makes me think and breathe, that will just stop? No way man.

So, we're not very good at understanding stuff, and I don't understand this eternity idea super well, but I understand this "end" idea even less. What would it be like to just end? I figure it wouldn't be like anything, and thats weird. Because everything is like something. How can you experience no longer existing? We've always got to exist. Your 'soul' can't just stop. I'm always going to be me.

Just some food for thought.

Wha?!

Thats right, im posting. It's 1:04, so this has to be quick, but I've got a groove, and im going to run with it. GO!

Innocence: It's not there. Do you guys realize that everything that comes out of my mouth has to be thought about beforehand? Lets say I really want to just run up and talk to a girl after not seeing her for a month. In an innocent world, I'd just run up there, and do exactly what I want to do, just talk to her. Instead, we live in this crazy world where everything Thatcher says or does has to be premeditated. Whats with that?

Everyone likes to look at what kids do, and use it for statistical purposes to prove that violent video games make kids violent. The problem with that whole theory is that kids think about the stuff they do. They don't just do stuff. I don't just do stuff, so it stands to reason that other people are like me, right?

My sister Steph teaches kindergarten, and its funny to see what her kids do. They seem like they're just so "Innocent" they just do stuff. They say the freakin' funniest things, and they just do it, like its nothing. So, you think, hey, they just do stuff, why can't I do stuff?

Well, in kindergarten, I thought about stuff too. When I talked to adults, I thought about what I was going to say. I didnt mean for it to be funny, I had a goal in mind when I opened my mouth. Are you guys like that?

So, that's what kills me. Its the fact that everything that anyone has ever said had a motive behind it. Everything I've said has had a motive behind it. I can't really remember a time when I just gave up this whole premeditation thing and just ran with it. If I think a girl is good looking one day, why not say it? Well duh, cause that'd be weird. Instead we're gonna think about saying it, and then not say it, good call.

Which makes it kinda weird, because then when a girl says something to me, you've got to realize that it probably comes from their brain, and not necessarily from their heart. Acting on instinct is interesting, because its just me and whatever I've shaped my brain in to, its not me forcing my brain to do stuff. Sometimes my instinctive mind surprises me, it's kinda fun.

See, this whole 'no innocence" theory falls apart on itself though, because in the end, we still end up saying something. Even if we sat there and thought about it for 20 minutes, we still end up saying something. Whether it be from instinct, or from 20 minutes of hard reasoning, its the same in the end.

If I run up to tanya the first day of 9th grade and say "hey, how was summer? You look dandy!" or if I sit in my desk and think to myself "Hey, there's tanya, she looks good today" its really just the difference between acting on instinct, doing what I want, and not acting on instinct, but doing what my noggin tells me to. Whats the difference in the end? Well, me forgetting about Tanya. The real deal is, we think about what we do, so how can we trust ourselves or other people? If everyone did what they wanted deep down in their heart, we could tell what a person was really like after about 2 minutes. We could tell what they wanted in life, and what they're willing to do to get it. The honest them. Instead, we see the product of them thinking about "hey, what can I do to get the most out of this situation?"

This isnt necessarily a bad thing, its just a thing. Maybe its totally the wrong thing, maybe im way off base. Maybe im the only weird one, or maybe you all think about stuff just as much as I do. Maybe you over analyze things to the point where you do nothing. Or maybe, I'm a nutjob with access to a good internet connection, and a blog service dumb enough to let me write.

In the end, I thought about this. These ideas might have come from my heart, but they had to pass my brain's filter first. Is that comforting, or disconcerting? Depends on who you are.

Nothin' Intelligent

Echo....
...Echo......
.....Echo......
.......Echo.....
........Echo.......

Boy this place is dead. Nah, I'm not posting anything here tonight, don't get excited or anything. Just, there'll be stuff to come. I'll do another blogaday or something good. It's 9:49 PM, Monday, January 3rd, 2006 and I'm postin something here. Just wanted to keep you all on your toes.


...one last echo cause it's fun....

It's not poetry, I swear.

It's been forever, my apologies. Last blog was a little less than good, we'll see if we can scrape up something good from the bottom of the barrel now. Instead of whatever else you might have got to hear about, you get to hear about politics tonight. w00tah.

Political Grief #1: Standardized Tests.

I personally love tests. I look forward to test days at school. I like them because they're alot easier and require less work than normal school days. On a test day it's just me and that paper. It's not me trying to listen and take notes, it's not me trying to stay awake during a video, it's not me trying to help somebody else with their assignment. It's just me, showing what I know. Seeing how good I can do, seeing what I've learned. Just me, on my own, the way I like it during school.

Those are normal test days, the ones where you take that chemistry test that the teacher wrote. The dreaded test days are the ever beloved CRT tests, the UBSCT, and whatever other horrific acronym you can make up. These aren't written by your teachers, they're written by people that live at the state education offices. They sleep underneath their desks, and don't ever go outside. They're living off of catered food that nobody quite knows where it comes from. It's questionable, but since they don't have any contact with the outside world, they accept it. When they're done writing their ridiculous tests, they slip them under the door one by one, and the magical test fairy picks them up and distributes them. Nobody quite knows what these test writers look like, they havent been seen for years and years. They're a mystery, as are their tests.

The problem with these tests is that you can't exactly gauge knowledge by taking a test. Despite how lame I think the excuse is, some people are just crappy test takers. Some people have crappy teachers, some people's teachers are really good, but they taught them alot of stuff that wasn't on the test. Blah blah blah, the list goes on. Anyways, what I really want to talk about is the English tests. We took a practice one in English. Good crap.

"Which prereading activity would be most beneficial to a reader before reading this book?"

And then they give you 4 choices. What the smack? Every reader is different right? That's like asking "Which haircolor would be best to have if you're trying to impress this random guy Hernando?" Depends on who the heck Hernando is, and what type of hair he likes! Maybe he likes bald girls, some guys are like that. Maybe I learn really really well by doing hands on crap. Maybe it'd be best for me to go out and try to build a sled first, so I can understand the process. Maybe Levi would do better if he read a book about dograces. Maybe Kyle would do good if he took a course in English so he could read, since he only speaks Swahili!

The problem with English tests is that literature isn't uniform. It means something else to every person. It's up for interpretation, which is why it's good. Wanna know why computers can't talk to us yet? It's because there is no uniform format. You don't have to start a sentence with a noun, you can start it with an interjection for as much as I care. I can write a book about computer dust. I can write it all in lower case letters, and some jerk would probably still buy it. I don't have to follow your rules to write well! heck, I don't even have to follow your rules to write good.

Dr. Suess is considered by me to be one of the best authors ever. He broke ALL the rules. His books mean something to children and adults alike all over the world. Shove that in your pipe and smoke it you test writing monsters. There's no right place to put the comma, you decide. Some people may like it, some people may hate it. Oh well, its not your place to tell me how to write.

Wheee, that was fun.

Political Grief #2: Politcal Correctness.

Merry Christmas. Let the flames begin.

Everybody likes to get in on this argument. No matter what religion or faith you are, you're bound to get mad if somebody mentions anything and there is snow outside. If you say Happy Holidays, the rightwing nutjobs condemn you for not mentioning Christmas. If you say Merry Christmas, the ACLU bombs your mailbox for mentioning religion within the US borders. If you forget Kwanzaa, you're put on trial for hate crimes against African Americans.

You know what, I don't care. If Target wants to have a holiday sale, let them go for it. if Shopko wants to have Christmas sale, I'll probably end up going there. If Walmart wants to have a "I- think-Christopher-Thatcher-sucks-big-time-and-his-religion-is-crap-and-he's-not-gonna-ammount-t o-anything-and-he-ought-to-just-commit-suicide" sale, if they've got good deals, I'm gonna go shop there.

Give it a rest people. Maybe the Constitution really does say that its innappropriate for ANYBODY to mention any sort of religion during the winter, or maybe you're all a bunch of losers. Who cares? You forget to mention Christmas in your holiday card, oh well. I'm going to worship the way that I want, not the way your "holiday" card tells me to. Does it impact me? Not in the least. I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ during Christmas, but if Shopko doesn't, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna shop there.

Go ahead and hold your Christopher-Sucks sales. You get me a good store that sells the things I want, and if their proceeds go to funding assasination attempts on myself, oh well, I like their product. Political Correctness goes too far. I can't walk down the street without getting faced with it. What happened to the days when people were free to do what they wanted without fear of ACLU bombings? You wanna say happy hannukah, go for it. You wanna say Merry Christmas, more power to you.

Grief #3 - The apparent lack of a third grief to write about.

I planned on having a third topic to write about, I really did. Now I don't have anything to write about. G'night.

(8)Its the end of the world as we know it(8)

Alrighty, the end of blogaday. I really haven't felt like writing for the past while, which explains why I've been floundering for the last long time. Well, I'm finally ending it. Not with a philosophical masterpiece, but with answers to questions, cause Marissa suggested that, and cause I'm too lazy to think of anything cool to write about for now.

Jason asked: "Are you homosexual?"

Answer: No..... just no. That's wrong on so many levels. No.

Anonymous asked: "What kind of girls are you interested in?"

Answer: Cute modest smart athletic mormon girls. That's not asking too much is it? It seems as it is, but I'm not backing down. Perhaps I'll be lonely the rest of my life. In fact, chances are I will be. Oh well.

Marissa, Nick, and Jason asked: "Who do you like?"

Answer: Good question chaps. One that I have about 12 different answers to, each as valid as the last. It's one of those things that I just don't quite know about. Needless to say, there is no new wonder girl that has suddenly popped into my life that I am enamored with.

Whatever, I guess I'll explain the last couple months of lady-business. So, during the summer, a couple weeks before school started again I started liking Marissa again. Well, I thought this was pretty bad news. First off, she had just stopped liking me, after a long time of liking me, and from the looks of things, she pretty much thought I was a loser at this point. And then, there was the whole deal of facing my boys, who would most likely string me up and try to purge the evil spirits from me.

So, I'm like "Alright, I'll hold off, hide underneath a rock till school starts, and then I'll meet some amazing new girl, and I won't have to tell Marissa that I like her and have her tell me I'm stupid, and the boys won't ban me from all future halo parties. Score." So, by this point I really did for sure like Marissa, but I wasn't gonna do anything about it, because it was just gonna be a messy situation if I did.

so, school comes around without me making a fool of myself, and that's good. So, I go questing to find somebody to like. Yeah, that search was fruitless. My algebra class looked like the best possibility, but all the girls either wouldn't talk to me, or only talked to me when they needed help with math. So, I kept on questing. All this while I still like Marissa.

Then one day, I pull a squints, yell "I can't take it anymore!" and tell Marissa that I like her. That turned out better than could have been expected, but she definitely didn't like me. So, that was just the way things were, so I went back to daily normal life, same old same old. I still liked her, and I knew that she'd never like me again, just because of what had happened.

And, that's the way things stand today. I do like Marissa, but I don't know if you can call it that. I know that there's no hope, y'all don't have to remind me of that one;). Things are alright though. I'm alright with things the way they are, I'm not gonna jump off a building or anything. This leaves me free other fun things and not worry about girls. See, normal guys have to be like "Hmm, I wonder if the girl I like likes me" Whereas me, I can just say "Yep, definitely no" and go on with life, and devise cunning plans to make an awesome ultimate frisbee team instead of cunning plans to trick girls into liking me. It's a good situation.

So, who do I like? When you say it that way, it sounds like there's hope involved, so nobody really. Who do I still miss, and kinda wish things were different? Marissa. I know things won't be different, no need to go hide under a rock. But hey, you all asked, so you got my emotional rant. This should teach you a valuable lesson kids, never ask Thatcher who he likes.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody, it's been a good day:D

Blogaday day 7

Alright, this isn't a real post. I'm asking for another day to finish this, cause I feel pretty poo-ey right now. My throat hurts, and I think I'm getting sick. This wasn't helped by playing Frisbee in my slacks and 50's shirt in the cold. Inhaling most of a full sized ceiling tile didn't help either. It's a long story, one that I'm sure I'll forget about before you'll ask. So, go read my other stuff, I'm not ready for the last blogaday. Sorry chilluns.

11:17 - I'm out.

Blogaday Day 6!!!

That's right, day 6. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6! None of this wussing out of the blogaday action, oh no, its day 6, and I got one more day to go. There are some who doubted, I'll admit I was sceptical myself. But today, I can't help but feel like the luckiest man alive.

Do I have anything to write about tonight? Abolutely not. I got one bag of nothing. An empty bag in fact. And it's a big bag. None of this small bag crap, oh no, it's huge. Monstrous even.

So what is the solution? I've got to write something. I can't just say that I've got nothing to write, then post it, that wouldn't be ethical. And here I am, waiting for something to strike my brain, something to inspire me to write. It's 11:28, and I got nothing.

11:30, still nothing.


11:33, a good nothin'

11:35, still nothing, but those 2 minutes went by faster than the last couple.

11:37, inspiration hits. Maybe its not inspiration, maybe it's desperation, but I got something, and I'm running with it.

Things I want:

A job
some .9 graphite
an ultimate frisbee league
Andrew to either live here, or me to live in Logan with him and Nathan
A haircut
Some nice ball shoes


Alright, that idea got old fast.

11:40, desperation fails, back to the drawing board.

11:41: "Why are things the way they are? Why, because if they were any other way, we would be asking ourselves why are things the way they are, totally ignorant of the way that things might be if they weren't different."

11:42: that wasnt half as cool as I wanted it to be.

11:45: Im running out of ways to say that there is absolutely nothing worth writing in my head.

11:49 - entertained, but still nothing. "Walker told me I have AIDS" - Haley Joel Osmond

11:50 - I want to go to bed. I have a chemistry test tomorrow, and hopefully an ultimate frisbee pickup game. I will finish though!

11:51 - I need to go running!

11:52 - Halfway through writing that last one, the time changed to 11:52. So, is it 11:51, or 11:52, I just don't know.

11:54 - 2 wrongs don't make a right. But 3 lefts do.

11:57 - Steph took me driving today in the church parking lot. That was fun.

11:58 - I feel like Bizz.

12:01 - there are some people that you just think "wow, I wanna be like that guy" Austin Tallkid is one of those guys.

12:02 - exit human contact

12:03 - loneliness sets in.

12:03 again - Im gonna go test and stuff, brb.

12:10 - I tested, and I was 103. Thats perfect, that made me rather happy. So I did 25 units of Novolin, ate a banana, and drank a cup of milk. Now here I am, more ready for bed.

12:11 - This is kind of fun, I ought to do this more often.

12:13 - whoohoo, ninja pajamas!

12:14 - just cleaned up my backpack, and Ima go brush my teeth.

12:16 - Boy are my teeth clean.

Alright, I think it's time for me to head towards the bed. Tonight has been a good night though. I took it easy after school, practiced some frisbee fundamentals. I finally got the left hand classic down alright. I can at least make it go without floundering too much. I went out to eat with the family, got to go driving with Steph, studied some chem, wrote a worthless blog, and got to talk to an old friend I never talk to. It's been a nice night.

I'm really excited for Track to start. I'm excited for Thanksgiving, I'm excited for frisbee on friday with brad, I'm excited to go to sleep soon. I'm excited to finish the BOM, I'm excited to dress up tomorrow. I'm excited for my Chem test. I am excited for the future.

12:20 - My sister is snoring like a walrus.

So, stuff will be good. It's day 6, and I made it. Maybe this is worthless, but maybe it brings me one step closer to the weeklong goal. I hope it's been fun, I kind of enjoyed writing it. Have a nice day everybody, I wish you the best in all your endeavors.

12:21 - Christopher Thatcher.......out

Blogaday day 5!!!

Whee, one more day down, about a million left to go! Yay! I love Sundays, they are the very best.

Anyways, todays topic is an old one, but I think that it is a very important one. What is the difference between an A paper, and a B paper? What is the difference between a 5:30 mile, and a 6:30 mile? What is the difference between a cool girl, and an amazing girl? What is the difference between a respected individual, and an individual not worthy of respect? What is the line that seperates the amazing and the amazed?

The line is a bold one, and there is often very little confusion as to which side one belongs to. The great seperating factor is effort. When one puts forth an honest effort, he exalts himself above those around them, draws himself to a higher sphere, and becomes something greater than what he was before.

Likewise, when one does not put forth an effort, he agrees to wallow in the mud of defeat, and be trodden upon by those willing to fight for what they want.

Every day in fitness for life we run. Generally we run 6 laps inside, 3 of which have to be jogged. The other 3 can be walked if you'd like, it's up to you. Every day in fitness for life, I run all 6 laps, and I run them pretty fast. I'm capable of running them all fast because of Cross Country, I enjoy doing it, and it's good training for the mile. It's nowhere near a mile long, but I need speed training, so I try to run it fast. I assume that people think that I'm stupid for doing so, that i'm a buttkiss, and a square, but I don't mind so much. I am everyday appalled at the lack of effort being put forth. As I run my laps, I see 90% of the class walking it. Not jogging slow, not putting forth any effort at all, just walking it. They are content to walk 2 laps in the time I can run 6, and then call it good and return to the gym.

Now, what consequences does this bring to them? I can tell you, absolutely none. Their grade is the same as mine, they get credit for it no matter what they do. Some are proud of it, some don't feel anything about it, it's just something to do. So why do I run, and they walk? Why don't I walk too?

I believe that every day we have an oppurtunity to learn and to grow. We are faced with choices every few minutes, and what we do with them adds up to make us the people that we are today, we all know that. However, I believe that every time we choose to not put forth an effort, a part of us dies. Not a large part, but a small part of us. I don't know where this part comes from, but I think that it's there. When we put forth an effort we become greater people. Every time we do, we grow a little bit more. After a lifetime of effort, books are written about us. After a lifetime of nothing, nobody cares, and the prisons are one inmate less crowded.

Last time I clocked a mile, i ran a 5:22. Zack Sievert beat me by a couple seconds, I think he got 5:18. I can guarantee that today I can kick his butt. Zack has alot more physical talent than I do, he always has. I've known him for a long time, we grew up in the same ward, and he was always good at all the sports, and I was always good at anything that required my brain. We are all born with individual gifts, we all know that. Zack was born with more physical talent than I was, and that was apparent all through our childhoods. At the end of 9th grade, he could still run faster than me, partly because he tried harder, and partly because of his talent.

Well, it's 10th grade now, and by all means he ought to run alot faster than me. He doesn't put forth an effort. I put forth alot of effort in Cross country, and now I can beat him, I'm sure of it. Does that matter? No, not to anybody but me.

Pleadingly I ask that you all put forth your effort at everything you do. The difference between the common man and the Hero lies only in the effort put forth. Each of us has the potential and power within us to change the history of the world, but the percentage of people that do that is alarmingly low. It's hard to change the world, but it's always possible. We are faced with choices every day, to do things the easy way, or to do them the right way. It's up to you, to be amazing, or to sit back and be amazed.

The choice is yours, take it.

Blogaday day 4!!!

I gotta tell you, I didn't think I'd make it this far. It's day 4, only 3 more days to go.

You know, I really love my family. They're just amazing. I went camping yesterday, and since my dad is the scout master, he went too. Me, him and braeden were in one car, and all the other guys were in the other car. As we drove up, me and my dad talked about alot of stuff, most of which was seriously nerdy. We talked about smelting, then water purification systems, and then nuclear waste. When we got to our campsite, we learned that the other car had talked about the importance of claiming your farts on scout camp the whole time. The whole time..... My dad is a super smart guy, which is pretty cool, cause you get to have nerdy conversations with him. It made me appreciate him alot.

Anyways, I wanna talk about nuclear waste, because I think it's important.

I am not too well read on this subject. I don't know exactly what nuclear waste can do. Im not sure what it looks like, but from what I understand, it's pretty bad news. Radioactive stuff generally is. Nobody wants it, which is why it's such an issue.

Alot of people want to ship nuclear waste to Utah and have us bury it here. There are a couple reasons for this. The first and foremost is that we have alot of empty space. There are places in the state where you can bury the waste and nobody would be around to complain about it, there's just lost of space. Another reason is our relative lack of rain. We're a desert people, and that means less water to run around and spread the bad stuff. We've got a primo setup to accept all this waste, but the politicians are against it.

Nuclear waste is dangerous stuff, I gotta give them that. They say that if we start to accept all this junk, we'll become the nations dumping ground. They think that this will have a negative connotation, and that nobody will want to come to Utah. It'll hurt tourism, and make everybody think we're lame trashbags.

And so there is a rift here. Industry wants to send the waste here, and the state politicians say no dice. Since the politicians have more power, it doesn't get done. Our governor recently said that he'd veto anything that came by proposing that stuff. He totally axed a proposal to let envirocare accept more waste. He was very stubborn about it, and seemed pretty confident that he had made the right choice.

See, I don't know much about our governor, but when I saw that on the news I lost nearly all respect I had for the guy. That letter we got from him for nerds? Yeah, it's worthless now.

I think that we ought to accept the nuclear waste, and bury the crap out of it. I do not see any valid reasons why we shouldn't. We have a near perfect set up in this state for it. It is safe here, which it isn't right now. Right now it is sitting scattered across the country by the plants that use it, and its just chillin. Which is preferred, a bunch of spent uranium rods sitting buried in the west desert, or a bunch of spent uranium rods hanging out by some plant in new jersey? If something were to happen at all those local storage facilities, alot of people would be in danger of some seriously bad stuff happening. If anything happened in the west desert, a couple of coyotes might lose a little fur over it. The stuff is safe here, thats why they want to send it here. Right now it is dangerous, and we could eliminate alot of that danger.

Honestly, there is a reason that envirocare does what it does. They make that crap safe. They go crazy over it. They don't bury when it's not safe, and they make sure they bury it right, with the right stuff on top of it, to the sides of it, and underneath it. They make it safe for us. Why wouldn't we want them to do that with everything else? The governor is saying that he would rather endanger the people of Oklahoma with low level radioactive waste than allow envirocare to bury it, making it safe for everyone. Does anyone see the logic in that?

Letting us accept nuclear waste would bring alot of money to the state, potentially more than we would lose in tourism. I think that in the 1950s, we would have stood more to lose than we do now. Despite everything I've said about everybody being stupid, I think that the level of intelligence, and the level of information getting passed around to everyone is high enough that people would understand what's going on. Sure there'd be idiots that wouldn't come here to ski, but most people would appreciate what we're doing for the country. I don't think we'd lose all that much tourism. If Utah gets a negative connotation for accepting nuclear waste, so be it. Everybody calls us the Mormon state, why not add Nuclear waste land to the list of things to call us?

Politicians argue that since Utah doesn't produce any nuclear waste, we shouldn't have to accept it. That is true, it's not necessarily our responsibility. Its not endangering us now, why should we have to import their junk? It's their problem, not ours.

I can understand that attitude, I've felt the same way. However, I've always been raised believing that when we have the power to help someone else out, we should do it, even if we don't stand to gain anything from it. Utah is in a position to help the country out, and nobody is holding a gun to our head telling us we have to. Accepting the waste makes the world a safer place, so what if we lose a few dollars in tourism? We can help, we ought to help. I think that the politicians of the state are being pretty stupid about this. I'm sure they know alot of fun secrets that I don't know, I'd be happy to sit down and hear about them, maybe they could change my mind. But based on what I know now, I am pretty upset that we continue to prevent this from happening. Why wait until people start growing 3rd arms to do something about the problem? Get it out of there, and get it here, where it's not gonna do any damage.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you think I'm an idiot. If so, leave a comment telling me so. If you agree with me, leave a comment telling me why, c'mon, it'll be fun.

Blogaday day 3!!

Wow, it's 4:22 PM, approximately 13 hours after my last post. I am going crazy with this sleep deprivation. It feels like my glasses are on, my eyes really think they're there, but they're not, so they keep wigging out. I fall asleep every couple minutes, just kinda fall. Good crap, insane business. Note to self: Get more sleep.

So, I'm about to leave on a scout camp, and that's why I'm writing right now instead of later tonight. I'm pretty excited for the camp, despite my grumblings. At least I get to play frisbee, and even if I have to play by myself, it'll be good. I'm trying to work my left hand, so i can be ambidextrous. That'd make me super dangerous in a real game. Last night I played for about 20 minutes by myself, just tossing it from one side of the lawn, chasing it down, then tossing it back. My left got to be alright, it was pretty cool. So, I'm gonna go play frisbee for the next day, I'll be back around 12, oompah.

So, on to some philosophy.

I feel old. Today my body feels like its about 80, but that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the way I am. I swear that I was born old. In 8th grade Briahna told me that I had to act like a kid more often, but I haven't. I'm not sad about that at all, I just find it interesting. There are some people that can run around and not worry about a thing. They can fail every class, and be happy with things. They can yell at their mom, then go do a cartwheel in the front yard. They can kiss 2 girls in one day, while yelling at their mom and carthwheeling. See, I can't do that. Not only because I can't cartwheel, but because that's just not how I am. I don't think that's right, so I don't do it.

It's interesting how some people are like that. Predetermined ideas that we cling to for dear life. Everyone has different ones, but for sure, everybody has them. I seem to have more of them than most people, but that doesn't bother me too much. For example, my theory that baseball sucks. Now, have I ever really played a game of baseball? No, not really, it's too hard, I can't hit the ball. Have I ever sat down and watched a game? Nah, not really. However, I can still argue that baseball sucks. Why? Because sometime in my past, that idea got ingrained in my head. Maybe it was from my dad telling me that baseball sucks, maybe it was cause it was always on when I wanted simpsons to be on. Either way, sometime in my life I picked that up, and its hard to let it go. Maybe somebody will never cook in stainless steel, because they got burnt once as a kid, now they use teflon or something.

Look for these things, but don't make a deal out of them. Find your own, and ponder them. See if they still hold true now, and if they don't, think about getting rid of them. Last night I really enjoyed that harry potter movie, it was way good. However, I had that predetermined idea that harry potter movies suck cause they can't beat the book, and beacuse they're popular and promote illiteracy. Yeah, so I gave that up last night, look at me go. I feel 10 years younger already.

That's it for today folks, sometimes its not people's fault they're stubborn and stupid, sometimes thats just how they were raised, and they havent got around to fixing it.

Toodles, wish me luck on camp.

Blogaday day 2

Hello, it is 3:20 AM, I just got back from Harry Potter 4, and they did a super great job on it. I liked the movie alot. I was a little worried when the dancing communists came in, but we'll talk about that tomorrow in my other blog.

Im mostly doing this so I can say I blogged today, however, I have some important questions to make this worth while.

Is a person without fears and insecurities really a person?

Is it really not worth doing something if you don't do your best?

Do we truly with to be understood, or misunderstood so we can be pitied?

That's all I've got for now, dont put too much thought into them, they dont mean anything. I write more tomorrow, g'night.

Blogaday day 1!!!

wow, this blogaday stuff is tough! It's the first day, and I definitely have nothing up in my noggin. No philosophy, no huge complaints..... my head is just there right now. However, I will do my best.

Inside out

Nah, this has nothing to do with emotions, its about administration. Today as I walked home from school, I was dreaming alot about frisbee. Usually I dream about other stuff, sometimes about science, whatever. But today I dreamed about frisbee, and boy do I have some great ideas for the future. As I walked though, I saw a sign that said "No excuses, invest in public education" or something to that effect. I thought to myself "Duh, the budget is so screwed up anyways, it woulnd't do much good if we poured money into the system. The budget gets abused and messed with all over the place, Sharpe and Brough would end up spending the new money all by themselves. They ought to let me be in charge of that business, I'd clean it up, and I'd do this... this, and this."

Now, at this point I stopped myself, because I realized that I was doing something that I really don't like at all, insideout management. See, people on the outside are able to look in on systems, be they systems in nature, systems set up by man, or whatever systems you want, and say "Boy, I could make that a whole lot better." Sometimes this does work, but more often than not, it fails miserably. These people have good intentions, but do not fully understand the system, and oftentimes they cannot.

Example: My Algebra teacher. She tries as hard as she can to teach us the stuff that we need to know to get past her class. She really does try, and generally she does an alright job, I don't have too many complaints. However, she is not a student, and thus doesn't know exactly how our brains work. She was a student once, but people forget, and I believe she has. She, as well as the other Algebra II teacher, have this crazy new age idea of teaching us. They use groups, posters, and all sorts of crazy hippy ideas. They are the polar opposites of Mrs. Jamieson.

These hippy ideas do actually look great on paper. Just sitting there thinking about it, it looks really great. And then, you get to the classroom and the whole thing collapses. It just doesn't work. Why not?

Because it is built on theory, theory that is built up by people that are outside the system. Everyone has certain beliefs about other humans. I have them, you've got them, Kyle has them. Everyone has different beliefs, and generally they aren't all that accurate. That's why this stuff doesn't work. In order to get truly functional management, you need to have management from inside the system.

A few months ago I really wanted to be a kindergarten teacher for a week. My sister teaches kindergarten at a charter school, and I thought about all the awesome stuff I could teach kids if you just gave me a week. I thought of all the activities I could do, all the problem solving I'd make them do, all the cool puzzles I'd make them think about to get. I thought it'd be so cool, I would make a generation of super kindergartners, and the world would be mine.

Yeah, then I realized that I've got no freakin' idea what I'm talking about. Do you know how long it's been since i've been in kindergarten? I don't remember that stuff. I was basing my ideas on the 10th grade me. I was stupid, and so is everybody else.

Insideout management is not half as effective as management from inside the system. That is why administrators that havent ever been teachers generally don't make very good admins.

Now, this brings up a very touchy subject for me: Government getting involved in entertainment. Specifically video games. Earlier this year there was a very big scandal over a GTA game because it had some explicit content in there that wasn't appropriate at all. People got upset, that is understandable. However, lame politicians (Hilary Clinton) saw this as an oppurtunity to further their career, and immediately set about writing up legislation to force the video game industry to be responsible or something.

You know what, I doubt she's ever played Halo. She doesn't know why we play halo. I bet she's convinced we all are honestly playing that game to take out our anger, and that we get crazy ideas from the game, like taking a plasma pistol to school and shooting robert while he sleeps. And so, because everybody thinks that Halo nuts are all gonna grow up and use a battle rifle to take out politicians, they freak out, and try to get rid of it. The problem is, they don't understand it, and they are supported by the voters that don't understand it either. Looking from the outside in, Halo does look bad. C'mon, you run around shooting each other. There's nothing wholesome about it, it's all out battle. People get into it, I get into it. So, looking from far away, it looks bad, and then you say "It's bad, lets further our career by taking it out, it'll be easy." Then lazy voters say "Ooooh, that does look bad, the newspaper said so, lets support the ideas!" Then, people from outside the system take control of it, and destroy it.

Those inside the system are really the only ones that can fully understand the system. I'm not for anarchy, I'm not for getting rid of teachers, I just don't think that they should impose things on us that they think will be amazing but prove not to be. Theory doesn't translate well from paper to humanity, we're too complex. We are too crazy to have any statement really apply to everybody. "Kids learn best from teaching others" doesn't apply to some kids. Some kids don't learn well by doing hands on stuff.

Don't do insideout management. End the madness, and support local Halo.

Blogaday is coming soon. I'm gonna do a philosoblog once a day for a week. I will start that tomorrow, right now, I just need a good place to upload this super cool Tupper-symbol to, so here it is. There's your update, expect something great tomorrow. Christopher Thatcher -out-

Sun Tzu, He's not so tough

After a very long hiatus, I am back to thinking about philosophy once again. Unlike my recent posts, I've actually thought this one through for about a week, so I hope you enjoy.

Sun Tzu. He is the ancient Chinese general that is credited with writing "The art of war"; the oldest military instruction book we know of. Very little is known about Sun Tzu, in fact, some historians now debate whether or not the man even existed, or was just a pseudonym of several Chinese philosophers who worked together. But, this blog isn't about who this man was or wasn't, it’s about his effect on the world, and what it teaches us.

"The Art of War" is considered by most military strategists to be good advice, at least for ancient armies doing battle about 400 BC. Some people now take this book as something akin to scripture, quoting it, and basing their decisions off of the advice therein. While I was playing Warcraft once, I was losing, and an ally of mine said "If you do not adapt, you die." I contested that I didn't feel like adapting, and was confident with my current strategy. At that point he got fairly belligerent, and told me I was an idiot, and that that quote was from Sun Tzu. He thought that that meant it was indisputable. Sure, it carried more levity knowing it came from Sun Tzu, but that doesn't mean that it is 100% true.

Sun Tzu is not the authority on military matters.

Even though my team mate wanted to make me change by telling me that Sun Tzu thought it was a good idea, that didn't mean I had to. Perhaps Sun Tzu was wrong in some of his assertions. Perhaps he messed up once or twice. He was just a human, like the rest of us. People now revere his words as though he was more than a man, and that's where problems begin to arise.

I was born a little more than 15 years ago. I quickly started learning, but I started off at nothing. I didn't know anything. I had to learn from my surroundings, figure out how to communicate with those around me, and then how to take care of myself. 15 years later I am still learning. I still don't understand even a fraction of what is going on around me.

My dear associate Sun Tzu started out the exact same way. He was born to a mother and father, pooped all over the place, and had to learn just like me. In fact, I assume that mine and his first 5 years were probably fairly similar. Since both of us couldn't take care of ourselves, somebody else had to take care of us, we peed all over the place, but most importantly we both learned. We both started off at nothing, and then we both had to start learning.

What makes me different from Sun Tzu? Nothing. What makes people believe every word Sun Tzu spoke as though it were from a prophet? I have no idea.

I've had 15 short years to learn everything I can. That is not a long time. I don't understand how other people's brains work, I don't understand why gravity works, I don't know the chemical formula for photosynthesis off the top of my head. Everybody that you know started off with nothing. And now, we've all progressed a lot, learned a lot, but we're still clueless.

15 years isn't enough time to figure out exactly why we are here, or what we're all doing. 15 years isn't long enough to figure out how girls' brains work. 15 years isn't long enough to find out how to make world peace, or how to make a government work, or how to please everybody. I firmly believe that 150 years isn't long enough to learn this, or even 300. Sun Tzu didn't know everything, he was just like us. He didn't have time to learn everything. Neither do we.

We're all in the same boat. When I think about humanity, it’s easy to see that there are a million times more things that connect us to one another than things that tear us apart. What’s the difference between me and an Australian bushmen? I know how to program, he knows how to hunt. I wear shoes; he makes shoes out of animals he kills. He can send a smoke signal, I can program. He can dance; I'm a white guy that can't.

What are our similarities? Well, he was born to a mother and father, and he couldn't feed himself for about a year. Same with me. He walks on two feet, and wonders why the world is the way it is. Me too. He doesn't know how to make a girl fall in love with him, and neither do I. He doesn't know why people older than him don't make decisions like him, same here. He has to eat to live, and use the restroom every once in a while. Hey, me too.

Sun Tzu was just a man, just like me, or you, or anybody else. Why don't they quote me? I still haven't figured it out, but maybe its better that way. Maybe it keeps us all on ground level. Remember, everybody else is just as lost as you are in this road of life. Everybody else wonders. Everybody else has good days, and bad days. Everybody else is going to make a mistake too. Everybody is gonna get their heart broken, even Sun Tzu.

Algebra, my first love

First off, I would like to apologize for my last post. It sucked, and wasn't up to par with the rest of my writings, at least in my eyes. However, I do have an explanation.

The title to last weeks blog was "Moments". That night I really wanted to blog, but since the power was out I couldn't. In that moment I had a lot to say, and I felt one way. Anyways, time passed, and the power came back on. I could now blog. But, the moment had passed, and I didn't feel like blogging anymore. I blogged anyways, and it ended up a shoddy wreck. The moral of the story is, sometimes people feel one way, but those feelings change.

Now, on to the fun stuff.

Kids these days don't know how to problem solve. It's as simple as that. It is very difficult to teach a kid how to problem solve in school. Schools are pretty much governed by the state curriculum and the standardized tests. You are required to pass the tests, and in order to do that you have to teach the curriculum. Unfortunately, you can't put problem solving in the state curriculum. Every student needs to learn how to do that in a different way. School is great, except that they're churning out a generation of kids who cannot solve problems.

Why can't kids solve problems? I know that some of them can, because I've met them. I like to think that I am one of those kids that is able to solve problems. But why are a lot of the people I associate with incapable of solving problems? I think it's because they have been babied through the school system.

This whole digital revolution is partly to blame. In kindergarten, the computer illiterate teacher took you down to the lab, and taught you how to sign in. You had to type in your last name, then the first letter of your first name, and then hit enter. Then, you had to go to the 3rd picture, and click on it. There were about 45 pictures on the screen, but those were forbidden. Click on the 3rd one, thats the one you want.

Do you remember that? I sure do. I was afraid to click on any of the other pictures. The teacher said click on the 3rd one, she knew what she was talking about right? Any of the other ones would do something I didn't want it to do and get me in trouble. We learned from a very early age to simply follow instructions when we're near a computer in a school. It's easier that way. It's easier to tell 40 5 year olds exactly what to do than it is to teach them how to find out what to do.

And now, 10 years later, we're stuck with those problems. Kyle sits down at a computer, and waits for instructions. He doesn't read the text, and follow the trail the computer gives him to find his destination. He waits to be told. That's the way its been since kindergarten, thats the way it will be for ages to come. Because teachers weren't confident enough to teach us how to use a computer, they simply told us how to get to where they wanted us to go. We all got into SRA Math just fine thank you. Too bad we didn't learn anything on the way.

This problem has repeated itself for ages, and not just in the computer side of schools. In algebra, does a teacher tell you the formula to get an answer, or does she tell you how to figure out the formula? Hopefully she does both, but more often than not I believe that you are given the formula and told to go on blind faith. This is a difficult task for many students who don't do too well on blind faith. Algebra, computers, biology, journalism, whatever. The problem is the same.

We as teachers are too lazy to do things the hard way. I say we because I fell into the same trap. Last year I was assigned to teach pretty much all the students how to use that Nero slide show program. I failed my task. It was infinitely faster for me to do it myself. Teaching them how to do it would have taken ages and ages, and wouldn't have produced a product nearly as good as mine. It was faster and easier to do it for them, so that's what I did.

I sincerely regret that now, because I helped perpetuate the problem. I did it for them, like too many teachers have done. Instead of letting them discover it, I did it the fast way.

This is why students can't problem solve today. We are unwilling to see them fail in order to grasp the concept. Its much more pleasant to see a kindergärtner skip right to the right program on the old school IBM than it is to see him get into the wrong program, then have to find his way out, then back to the right one. That takes valuable time that he could have used learning math.

So, which is more important in the end? 5 minutes spent learning math, or 5 minutes spent learning how to solve problems? I'm going to have to say 5 minutes learning how to solve problems.

So, that's my challenge to all of you today. Let them fail. It will be more beneficial for them to be frustrated for 40 minutes trying to plug all the right cords into the right holes on their computer than it will be for you to do it for them. I complain so much about computer illiterate people, but I helped create the monster.

I know algebra because Jamieson taught it to me, and I had to work with the problems in visual basic to make snake and frogger work. I had to problem solve. I had to figure out how to get the right side of that box + 140 pixels to be greater than the left side of the frog - the width of the frog. I know it because I had to figure it out. Had someone told me how to do it, I wouldn't know it today. We have to learn how to problem solve on our own, but in order to do that our teachers have to allow us to fail first. I'm not saying we must be a failure in order to be a success, I'm saying that we need to be allowed the opportunity to make a wrong decision. So what if the kindergärtner gets into the wrong program? He can always escape and go back to the main menu. Let him do it, it builds character.

So, that's my rant of the day. People, learn how to problem solve, and allow others the same opportunity If I could find a girl that could plug a computer in right, figure out how to make messenger not sign in automatically, play Mannheim steamroller songs on the piano, that's cute and modest, I'd sure be happy. If you meet the criteria listed above, applications are available at the front office, thank you.

Moments

Due to popular demand, and the sudden appearance of something to write about, im finally blogging in this blog. Rejoice ye desolate people that actually have enough time to read this.

Well, today I am going to write about something that has been bothering me a little for a while. It hasn't been bothering me to the extent that I'm upset about it, but I've been thinking about it. Tonight I want to talk about Emotional ADD.

Like I've discussed here before, emotions are a very confusing subject for me. I like thoughts alot more. Thoughts make sense, I can control them, think about them, do whatever I want with them. Emotions are insane though. Emotions defy me. This summer my emotions just went insane towards the end. They were all wacked out. My thoughts were still normal, they all made sense, and the rest of me decided to be canadian or something, and just go crazy.

This is why I don't get emotions. I'm not saying I don't like emotions, because I really do. I just don't understand them too well. I don't get to make them do what I want, and that bothers me. Emotions are very very quick. They can come, they can go, and we don't know what makes them do these things. Thats what I want to talk about.

I woke up this morning and was tired, but excited for the day. I got to school, and all that changed. I wasn't tired, I was still excited for class, but I was dreading cross country. I went to physics and got way frustrated, then way happy. I went to world history, got bored, then got entertained a couple minutes later. Band was super fun, I was scared, then a little dissappointed, then grooving out, then dissappointed, then happy, then lonely. Lunch came, I was lonely, then not lonely, then felt pretty stupid, then was happy, then felt bold and talked to some new guys, then felt dumb and lapsed into silence, then happy, then bold, then shy. Then I went off to english, where I was bold, then stupid, then wanting to be alone, then laughing, then confused, then dissappointed again, then super happy, by the end of the day I was singing.

What the devil? That just doesn't make sense. My emotions went from 0 to 10 and back and forth all day long. whats the deal?

Well, as far as I can tell, emotions are triggered by actions around us. I can be on top of the world, and then someone will tell me my brother got killed in a car accident, and I'll be sad. Likewise, I can be sad, and someone will tell me that I just won 1000 bucks, and i'll be happy.

The problems being to arise when emotions either come and don't leave, or they come and we don't know where they came from. Oftentimes I'll find myself very excited about something I've been thinking about, something about the future, or some cool idea I just had. Sometimes I get all excited, and then I can't remember what my awesome plan was. Othertimes I find myself super sad and I can't remember what made me sad.

See, emotions are weird. However, Currently I'm super happy because I figured out that physics formula. It took me about an hour, but I did it, and I am 100% proud of myself for that. Anyone that says they can't do it, well, they can. They just havent tried for long enough.

Yay. I am happy. Right now my emotions say "Oh, you don't like anybody". And for now that makes me happy. Tomorrow, that might just make me feel lousy like it did today, but who knows. Emotions are way too complex to try to understand, I'm very very happy with equations. This has been a very worthless blog, but Ive got nothing to write about. The moral of the story is, go get a job you hippy.

People

Today friends, we are gonna focus on people. You see, there are probably at least 2 of you that are going to read this. One of you is Marissa, and I'm not sure who the other one is, but I'm pretty confident that you are out there.

You see, you two people are very different. Marissa is a girl, person X might just be a boy. This subtle difference means you two think differently about mostly everything, one of you can lift more weight than the other, one's alot better looking than the other, and it's socially acceptable for one of you to have a mustache.

However, you must remember that you two are fairly similar at the same time. According to scientists and whatnot, we share 98% of our DNA with apes. Pretty trippy eh? Sure, we're not too much like apes. We're not as hairy, not as strong, not as funny lookin, but we still share 98% of our genetic material with them.

You two share alot more than that. You're both 2 people that might be interested in reading what I have to say. You both have a mom, and a dad. Whether they be dead, missing in action, or downstairs reading the paper, they exist. You both had to wear diapers for a bit when you were babies, you both peed your bed at least once. You both have places to go, people to meet, and things to do. You both like somebody, maybe you're got a significant other. You both like certain food, you both dislike certain people. You've both probably been to lagoon at one time in your life.

This is why the world works, because it's filled with people like you.

You know all those times you sit and think, just to yourself? All the time you spend walking down the halls at school, pondering whatever there is to ponder, or having a conversation with your friend? Yeah, that sevie you just ran into was doing the exact same thing as you. He was walking along, about 1 foot underneath your field of vision, and he was talking to a friend. He might be as hungry as you are. He might be going to a class he hates; he might be excited to see a girl in that class. He's a human being, just like you.

See, that's something that we tend to forget. We get so wrapped up in ourselves, that we forget that everyone around us does the exact same thing we do. Granted, there is a lot to get wrapped up in, we're very complex, we have deep thoughts, etc. etc. But in the end, the guy that I just passed on redwood road was going to a destination. Just like me. He might be going to burger king to get some food. Or, like me, he might be going to learn a waltz at a distant friend’s house. I have no idea where he is going, but he is definitely going, he has a task, a plan to accomplish it, and now he's working on it.

We tend to forget things like this. I promise you right now, that the world doesn't exist to serve you. The people you talk to and meet every single day are not drones. You're not really the star of this show here on Earth. You're a pretty big part of it, but you're just a supporting actor. At one point I had to really think about this. I had to wonder if I was the only one that thought. I was curious to know if somebody else had ever pondered whether or not the world existed as just one big test, just for them. What are all these people doing here? Are they just like me, here for a certain task, or are they just roadblocks for me?

In all my meandering through life, this subtle piece of knowledge has come in handy to me. Think about it for 5 minutes. I don't know how else to try to explain the phenomenon. People are all the same really. Your teachers, they have a family. Your brother, he's got a family just like yours. The guy who made your shirt in Malaysia is just like you. He has to go to the bathroom everyday just like you do. Remember this, and you'll find yourself being alot nicer to people around you, people are gonna want to be around you alot more, and everything will work nicer.

Well, now you know my secret. Remember that people are people, just like you are. You know yourself better than you know anybody else. Well then, use that knowledge, and apply it to others. You know your fears. You know what, they have fears too. You know what you are lying, you know what you say. Maybe next time you hear that, you might have a clue. You know when somebody needs help, because you know when you need help.

Think about it, use it, and then come tell me about it.

Feelings II

I swear I've written this entire post before. The sad thing is, I really haven't, but it feels like I ought to have about 8 times.

Feelings are weird. They tell us how to feel about things, and they guide what we think about. I can always remember my thoughts, bring them back to me, but feelings don't come back. Once they're gone, I can't make them come back, they have to come on their own.

In all reailty, this is probably for my benefit. It's better that way I suppose. This way feelings are sincere. We know that they come from a source, one stem making somebody feel the way they do, not some insane far away memory.

But for some reason unbeknowst to me, this bothers me. about 1 hour ago I was crying; officially crying. and now here I am. One warcraft game and a whole lot of Enya songs later, I'm not crying. I hardly feel the feelings I felt.

Why? it bothers me. Certain things happen, and I get this distinct feeling that I just want to let somebody know exactly how I feel about everything, I want them to know what I think, what I see, what I am, but I can't. For many reasons, I'm left sitting here, with that crazy desire right there, and no way to get rid of it. I want to write a book, speak all day in poetry, and let them know everything.

But it never happens, and it never will happen. Nobody will ever really know everything that I think, and everything I feel. It just isn't possible to throw my whole being into theirs. And for some reason that sucks.

But ya know what? The next morning, those feelings are gone. I go to bed, hardly believing that I haven't exploded from the feeling, and wake up just like every other day.

Sometimes I wish I could stop, and make things last. Life goes on, on and on. It never stops. I wish I could bottle up a moment, and never leave it. Let them know. But life has a way of keeping that from ever happening.

So Little Time...

There is a whole lot that I want to talk about. This week has definately been really crazy, lots of ups and downs. Lots of thinking went on this week. I honestly meant to write every single day, but I was always too lazy.

However, despite overflowing with stuff I'd like to talk about, today I am going to talk about my favorite girl in the world: My mom.

I can honestly say that I owe 98% of everything I have to my mom and dad. My body, my personality quirks, most of my education, it all came from them. I owe alot of my personality to my brothers really, but since they got all their stuff from mom and dad, I can trace it back.

But in all reality, I owe most of myself to my mom. I am the youngest of 5 kids. That means that when all of my siblings were off to school, and my dad was off to work, me and my mom hung out till the time I was 5. I followed her around everywhere, I got in her way, I helped vacuum, I went to the store with her. Me and my mom were tight. Early in elementary school, she always came to all the field trips, she came and helped in class. She was the all American super mom.

I grew up a little more, and she had to start working. This was really weird to me. All my life I'd come home from school, and she'd be there. Now, for the first time ever, I'd come home, and there'd be a note on the table, but no mom. That was actually a really hard couple months before she got her schedule figured out such that she could work in the days, and be with us at nights.

But, because of her working, I finally got a glimpse of the real world, and I think this was where she taught me the very most. You see, every night she'd come home, and we'd all gather round to hear her tell us a story about the day. Mind you, I was in 7th grade, and I was the youngest kid, but we were all super interested, we'd all listen intently, because her stories were always awesome, and usually hilarious.

Anyways, she'd tell us about how a stupid customer came in, and acted like an idiot. How a kid peed on the floor, how her boss called and was stupid, how somebody made a bad decision on the sanfrancisco end. I figured out how the real world works. Have any of you noticed how touchy I am whenever we're at a store or restaurant? How I almost killed robert for throwing those fries at iceberg? You know why? because every single night my mom would come home and complain about people that did junk like that. Sure she got paid to put up with them, but I knew what it was like. I will never make fun of janitors because of my mom. I'll always try to be as polite as possible whenever Im out in public because of her. Because of her working at Jolene's, I understand alot about people. I understand how business works, and I finally realized that people that work in stores are real people, with families. she made me see the world from somebody else's eyes, and that opened me up alot.

A couple years later I got an oppurtunity to work at jolene's one spring break. It was emergency move time. The smart guy in charge wouldnt pay his rent, and they got a notice in the mail saying they had to be out in 4 days. Lucky for mom, all her strong studly boys were on spring break that week, so every day we went in and boxed up dresses, moved heavy stuff, and just worked our butts off.

One thing I noticed that week was how strong my mom was. She never ever ever quit. We would all get tired, we'd all slow down. My brother Nathan who I always thought was a workhorse started to complain a little, I laid down whenever I had the chance. But mom never slowed down, she never complained. She just told us to get up, and she kept on working. She never asked us to carry the heavy stuff for her, she just did it. She wouldn't quit until it was done. She wouldn't let us quit till it was done. I dont think I've ever seen anybody work that hard. It wasn't like she was breaking a sweat, or running around, she just never stopped. She just kept on pluggin along until it was done.

I don't know if my mom ever realized what she was doing to me. But I am the way I am because of her. Do you know the reason Im always real quite in public? Do you know why I don't yell? Do you know why I never climb on junk in the real world? Its because my mom let me know that that wasn't ok. She'd tell me about the kids that did, and how they weren't cool. You know, I won't ever do the things that my mom doesnt like. Ill never buy a little girls dress, have my daughter wear it once, and then take it back. I'll never go try to pay for a 5 dollar item with a 50 dollar bill. I'll be good, just for my mom.

My mom made me who I am, she's the reason I'm good in school. She's why I pay attention in church. She is why I try my best. I love my mom. I talk to my friends, and they talk about how they get in fights with their moms, how their moms are crazy, and I honestly don't understand. I know my mom is there for me. She's always been there, she always helps. Ya know, Ive never yelled at my mom. Me and my mom have never been in a fight. I can think of about 3 times in my life when I've been irritated with my mom because we didn't agree. Guess what, all 3 of those times, she's been right, I was wrong. My friends have problems, I tell them to talk to their mom, and they say they can't. I don't understand it, because my mom is the best. She makes the best cookies, she knows the most, she can do anything she wants to. If ever there is a problem nobody can fix, she can, and she will. I guarantee you right now, if my mom went on apprentice, she would win hands down.

Everything I am, I owe to my mom. She is the very best. I love her so much. I don't know what I'd do without her. Quick, go tell your moms you love them, because I know you do.

Thanks for listening.

What a wonderful world

Kids are sponges. At least that's the theory we're working with right now.

I had a very long argument with stefanie the other night on whether music really makes kids smarter, and whether violent video games make kids violent. Today, we will be discussing this.

How many times have you been watching a movie with a bunch of little kids, and a little less than 3 minutes after the movie is over, the kids are acting out a scene from the movie, and making fools of themselves. 7, that's right.

We all know how it goes, little kids do it all the time, they mimic what they see. It is part of how they learn. That is how we learn to talk, how to take responsibility, how to wash dishes, how to be sarcastic, how to walk, how to open the fridge. We do this because we want to be just like mom/dad/legal guardian, so we act like them. At least, that's the way we see it.

And then we see one freaky kid that does something really stupid when he's 17, and then somebody blames it on a violent video game. And in the words of my good friend mr. brough, the crap hits the fan real quick.

And so, the whole world starts believing that violent video games are bad for kids. I don't have much time, and I dont wanna go too deep into reasoning, but kids do what they see, and if they see violence, they do violence right? Thats the theory.

In the end, a bunch of do-gooders believe that violence in video games teaches kids that violence is the way to solve problems, and that it is culturally acceptable. They blame it for all the worlds problems, and they've got tests to prove it. They've done all sorts of tests, and they all have shocking results. The kind of results that when your neighboor's mother sees it they band 007 from the home.

"80% of kids that see models doing violent things to a clown doll will then go and do violent things to a clown doll if put in a room with a clown doll and a baseball bat."

Sigh. You know, this all makes sense on paper. But I have 3 points that don't make any sense to all of these do-gooders, and here they are:

1) Where are the results?

You know, for how much violence kids see in the media, in the video games, in the world around them, you'd imagine there'd be a riot going on every couple minutes at the elementary school. I don't care what your stupid tests say, they don't apply in the real world. If they did, the whole city would be in ashes right now. You continue to be doomsayers, say that our children are going to grow up to be serial killers. Some will, sucks to be their parents. Most of us won't, most of us will grow up to be amazing people, despite my violent video games.

2) History is on my side

My dad told me a story once about how his sister chucked a steak knife at his brother, and it stuck in his back and stood up by itself. Of course, this was when they were little, and neither of the children died for it. He then told me the story about when he took a rake to his cousins head, and made a big puncture wound.

My dad never played violent video games as a kid.

Its true, I dont even think he played pong, I dont even think pong existed. and here we are, hearing baout a child that went on and did some seriously violent stuff. But why?!?!? There's no media to imitate?! Where'd he get the horrible idea?!

Kids have been doing it forever. Kids will always do it. perhaps my dad was just kinda screwy, or perhaps, just perhaps, it was some other thing that made him violent, and not video games. GASP!

3) I've been there, it doesn't work.

I am a kid. I play violent video games. Guess how many times I've hit somebody? Yeah, none. Never been in a fight, never taken a sword to the school, never tried to shoot my cousin. And yet here I am, being corrupted every day. I don't care what all you psychologists say. It doesn't work. You were never here, you probably never played violent video games. You don't understand why we play, how we play, or what goes through our heads. You just think you know everything, and you have no idea. Until you have blown somebody up in halo, you'll never understand how it feels.

That's the problem. People think they know, when they dont. They think they know, and they think they are helping so they do stupid things like ban games and junk, when really, its just a fear.

A fear of failure. Some kids are violent, I don't know why. But I do know it's not video games' fault. Maybe it's the parents. Maybe they never taught them better. Maybe parent's are afraid they screwed up, and so to fix the problem they ban cool games.

The buck stops at the parent here folks. You can't blame the media for how your kids turn out. Its not the media's fault. If you can't watch what your kids see, watch what they play, you can't complain about it. Shutup, and raise your kids right. If you don't like games, don't let them play it, but don't ever tell me that violent video games make me violent, or I'm gonna bust a cap on y'all.

Just kidding, I wouldn't really bust a cap. You see, I'm a rather gentle and loving individual. Ive never hit somebody as hard as I could. Ive never kicked somebody really. Never swung a bat or stick at somebody with intent to hurt. I won't shoot you, or kill you in your sleep, Ill just write more indignant blogs in your direction.

Ignorance

You know what bothers me? Ignorance. People who don't know what they are talking about trying to get a petition signed. That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

What we have here, is a simple example of somebody that got rewarded instead of punished for being an idiot. See, had they been made aware of their idiocy beforehand, they wouldn't walk outside thinking they're smart. Its overinflated ego here.

basically, people that say genetically engineered foods are all bad for you are stupid. That's all. They make this big deal, and they don't get it. I'll be the first to admit I dont know too much about the subject, but I know enough to know that they aren't inherently bad for you. Anybody that says they are are just kinda too full of themselves.

Now that thats off my shoulders, I feel like being somewhat less of a pessimest than normal. I know, it's surprising. But it's beautiful outside, I can smell spring, and I'm just pumped for life.

So, lets have a question and answer session. If anybody feels like asking a question about how I feel about anything, just leave a comment, and I'll edit the post. I will respond to all questions, I promise.

And now for some advice. I know the only person reading this is probably Marissa, and if I'm lucky briahna. Well, if you've had the tenacity to read on until this point, lucky you, you get some advice that it geared towards 4th graders. And now, without further ado, Christopher J Thatcher's guide to life.

Never Ever Settle: Never give up. and never ever do anything less than your best. As a person, you are smart. Its been clinically proven that people are stupid, but the individual persons that make up those people are not. You've got it in you to make intelligent decisions, and to do good work. Never ever make a decision you know is wrong, it just leads to trouble. Never ever give less than 100% in school. There have been times when I've done just that. Lets say that there is a test. 100 questions. I've got 97 of them correct and im sure of it. There are 3 that I don't know, but I could find them out very easily. I am faced with a decision here. I've already got the A, I can turn it in with those 3 blank and be fine, or I can go searching for them. Absolutely no difference to my grade. Go look them up.

Every time that I have given up, and done less than I know I could have, I have the crappiest feeling afterwards. 3 days later, I will end up talking to someone about it, and telling them about how bad it feels. You might not notice, but when you're walking down the road, and you see a newspaper blowing in the wind, you're faced with a decision. Pick it up, leave it there. What do you pick? I promise, you'll be happier later if you pick it up. It makes absolutely no difference to you whether it is on the floor or not, but if you pick it up, you will be happier in the long run. That is a Christopher Thatcher guarantee.

Choose Friends Wisely: There is no shortage of good people in this world. They are everywhere. However, there is also a great abundance of less than good people in this world. in my experiences, I've found that I act exactly like my friends act. Whenever I have moved from group of friends to group of friends, I've adopted their language within a month. I start liking the things they like, and doing the things they do. I like to think I'm not a weak person, but it happens to everybody. You will rub off on your friends, and they will rub off on you. If you choose those that are higher up than you, you will be raised up. If you choose those that are lower than you, you will be sucked down. It's happened to me too many times to count. I seriously regret some of the friends I've chosen in the past. Don't make the mistakes.

Never Insult Others: Just don't do it. It helps absolutely nothing. It makes you feel like crap inside when you do it, and it makes the other person feel like crap, no matter who it is. An insult is easily avoided, you just don't have to say it. It serves no purpose. Once again, I've learned this the hard way. Even when you don't think anyone is listening, they probably are. Never say something you don't really mean just cause you're expected to say it. I've done it before. It sucks big time. Don't insult people you don't know. You'd be amazed at how fragile we really are. Never take a chance on it. You have no idea what circumstances people could be in. You have no idea if their parents beat them as a child, or whether they just won the most improved student of the month award. Don't take chances, just don't do it. It always hurts both parties, and never helps either.

Always Try to Help: Be there for people. You will be faced with oppurtunities every day to help someone. They need help, the only question is whether or not you will rise to the call. You gain a great feeling after helping, and you gain a lifelong friend if you are willing to continue to sacrifice for that individual. I have found no greater oppurtunity to make the world a better place, or to make myself a better person than to listen to those who need somebody to talk to. Throughout the last few years of my life I have tried very hard to help those that need help. I have seen the benefits come from this as well. Two of the best friendships I have ever had came from such situations. People need help, you can help. No matter who you are, no matter your circumstances, you can reach out and help people. Try it. You have no idea what you could do.

Don't say anything you wouldn't say infront of your mother: You have no idea who's watching. There are those that will laugh. There are those that will turn away from you forever. It is your choice.

Be The Same Person at School, at Home, at Church: There are 2 things that I cannot stand. One is a person that will never try. The other is someone that isn't true to themselves. There are people that I know, and I love to be with them when its just me and them. I talk to them, and I just love talking to them, and they're great. And then I see them when they are with other people, or in different circumstances, and I'm definately not impressed. Perhaps it's me, or perhaps its them. I don't know if they are putting on an act for me, or if they are putting on an act for them, but either way I'm not a fan. Its a funny situation. You can try to please everyone, and have hundreds and hundreds of sort-of-friends. Or, you can be true to yourself, and have friends that matter. It's like seeing the best looking banana in the world, and you open it up, and its all black. They totally ruined it! They ruined themselves! Just cause they aren't the same when they;re with everyone! It's just bad, don't do it. There are benefits to catering to everyone, but they in no way live up to the benefits of being true.

Conclusion: Every day you will be faced with millions of decisions. The choice is yours. Make the decision that helps society as a whole, or make the one that leaves the newspaper on the ground. As I've trying to make decisions that are good, my life works out alot better. Today walking home, I noticed a ton of that newspaper outside. I walked past. Approximately half a minute later, I emerged from my house, to pick it up. I couldn't stand leaving it there. I was dissappointed in myself. There are lots of ways to live, but if you live in such a way that you can go to bed happy with your effort at life that day, you will make your life better, and the lives of those around you better. Make your own choices, I just felt like ranting.

yay! Mind you, I speak from experience. I speak as a person, a drone, a techie, a nerd, a track-stud, a carpetboy, an indentured servant, a teenage wasteland. You can either work hard, or take the easy way out. take your pick, you know what you have to do.

Warning: May Scar Weenie Kids

Well, I was reading the Deseret Morning News before school a few days ago this week, and stumbled upon a rather interesting article.

The article talked about how one school district back east banned red pens. Teachers are no longer allowed to grade papers using red pens. The age old standard, the trademark of the teacher, the signature of critique was smitten.

And then they replaced it with a fruity purple pen.

Yeah, they replaced all the red pens with purple pens, under the justification that red is too intimidating, and would ruin a student’s ego. Red is just too emotionally scarring, too demeaning. When a student sees a red mark on a paper, he goes home and cries in his pillow for a week.

I think its lame. I can stand up to red pen just fine. In fact, I like the red pen, it tells me what I have to improve upon, and I value that a whole lot more than I value a "good job" written on the top. I love the red pen, and I'll personally miss the old boy.

I really am worried about the way this crazy society is going. Everything has to be idiot-proofed. Just on the off chance that someone goes on a shooting spree because they were haunted by that red pen, we have to eliminate all red pens. Just in case.

I don't want anybody to go on a shooting spree, but I think we've gone way too far on this one. Isn't emotional scarring the whole reason behind using red pens anyways? Aren't we trying to say "Hey, you gotta fix this you idiot!" Instead, teachers now write, in purple ink "Good job, you got this one right." Sure you missed the other 17 questions, but we're so proud of you for that one that we're gonna bake you a cake. But just incase you're allergic to cakes, we're gonna bring it in freeze dried from the district, and let it warm up in the sun. We won't use a microwave, because that may or may not radiate the plants, we don't know, but because we're ignorant, we're gonna stay away from it anyways. Afterwards, we're gonna let you eat that cake, but not in the sun, because you might get sunburnt, then cancer. And we wouldn't want anything to ruin your bubble life, oh no.

Good crap! I'm pretty sure that in 40 years the adults of this country are going to be so sheltered they aren't gonna know how to deal with problems. What happened to the good old days when my mom was in kindergarten when she could eat paste all she wanted? Stick goes into paste bucket, stick goes into mouth. My mom turned out awesome, she's the coolest person I know. Maybe the paste did her good. Now, instead of making cool mutant moms like they did 50 years ago, now we make weenie kids! Weenie kids that have to have their parents come to the counseling center to change a class for them. Grow a pair and talk to them yourself!

Look, if we keep sheltering our kids like this, bad things are going to happen. They're not gonna be able to deal with criticism, work through problems, or function as real people. We gotta pull our heads out here, or we're gonna be hosed in another 40 years.

Don't You Hate Pants?

Ok, so the EU just attacked Microsoft in their crazy courts because they feel that by bundling media player with windows, it hurts the competitors.

Teh Gayzorz.

And so now Microsoft is forced to pay some insane fine, and start selling windows without media player. Wow, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

Maybe I'm not up to date on all this capitalism business, but isn't that a tad lame? I see absolutely no problem with Microsoft making windows with media player. Of course, that hurts other competitors that are trying to sell their stupid media programs. Obviously you idiots! What do you think their plan was? To make a faulty product, and thus let the opposition have more costumers? Yeah, that's a great plan, that'll get you to the top real quick.

It is a companies main goal to make a product or service that will make them money right? Whether that product be donuts, software, or couches, it doesnt matter. Why is it then, that when a company makes a superior product, they get punished for it? Why does the EU feel so superior, that they need to smite the giant?

This is just plain ridiculous. Microsoft makes a product, and puts bonuses in there so it will sell better, and they get smacked for it. Now, I will admit, lots of people just use media player, and they dont go purchase other media software. sucks to be them. Why buy a product when you've got a free one? Would any of you, if you were given a free corvette, go buy a honda civic just to be nice? Of course not. Why then is the world so mad at microsoft for giving out media player?

I'll tell you the truth, I don't use media player too often. I generally use winamp, something I downloaded legally for free. Lets go sue those guys too, because they make it so Im not gonna pay for some other software. That's so unfair of them. They're just stealing business from those poor innocent companies that are trying to sell me somethign I can get for free! What dirtbags! How are they ever to survive? Try programming something worthwhile!

If the world was to smite everybody that gave away anything free with another product, we'd all be hosed. What about all those deals where you buy one and get one free? Its true, Mcdonalds is truly satanic, and will ruin the worlds economy because they are giving out a 3rd bigmac if you buy 2.

~sigh~

I wish people weren't dumb.

_,.-^~-~^-.,__,.-^~-~^-.,__,.-^~-~^-.,__,.-^~-~^-.,_

I'm sorry to dissappoint you all today, but the world is not coming to an end. Sucks to be you, I know.

Today someone attempted to convince me that we've screwed this world up so much that it'll be gone in 200 years. That everybody is going to be so screwed up from radiation that they won't know the human race existed. He had a rather bleak outlook, and possibly for good reason. Surely the world has many problems. Theoretically we have enough arms to blow the crap out of ourselves a couple hundred times over. Waste is building up, the ozone is being depleted quicklike. People are getting fatter, America is lazier, divided, and people are uglier than ever before. However, despite all this, I have great hopes for the future.

History has a tendency to repeat itself. It has been proven time and time again, and it will continue to be proven. People forget this, that's been proven time and time again as well. Human's have been intelligent enough to write for the past what, 5000 years? We've been crapping on the ground ever since, and we're yet to die out. We've been polluting water supplies, destroying the ozone, killing each other, killing wildlife, cutting down trees, and we're yet to die out.

All you doomsayers, do you remember world war 1? How about world war 2? The crusades? Polpot? The world has always had it's share of problems, and we're alright. We made it! Look at me, check it out! I've still got my limbs! Even from all the A-bomb testing, even from all the so called "Radiation" from cell phones. We won't die out. It's not the first time the world has had conflict. And humanity has always ended up on top.

Surely, we are finding better and better ways to kill each other. 800 years ago, bows + arrows and swords couldn't really kill too many people. Now we have sophisticated bombs that can take out cities at a time. So?

Surely the world is in bad shape, but it has been in bad shape for the last 5000 years. Despite our declines, we are growing stronger all the time. Right now, this generation is getting the crap beat out of them for the stupid things they did in the past. Everybody smoked, everybody thought radiation was good for you. Everybody sniffed asbestos just for fun. Cancer is on the rise. This generation has its problems as well, but we have our ways of dealing with problems. This day, medical science is the very best it has ever been in the history of humanity. Computers are faster today that ever before. Students are learning more than ever in history.

We can deal with cancer, we can deal with the bombs. Life has survived mass climate change in the past. Life has survived dictators being in charge too. We've survived some atomic bombs, some lion attacks too. We've got the tendency to survive no matter what happens. Oil prices go up? So what, humanity will survive. 200 years from now, I expect things to be peachy. The world is dandy, no worries mate.

-Christopher Thatcher

P.S.

The dork who tried to convince me the world was coming to an end is now playing stupid internet games, the most entertaining of which involved President Bush and John Kerry jousting. Gotta love arguing with intelligent people.

The Retro Revolution

And here I am again, to complain a little more about the ills of society. I hope you enjoy.

It seems that everybody wants to be cool. Of course everybody wants to be cool. Being cool is where it's at. Unfortunately, nobody really knows what is cool. Its just a matter a couple people deciding something is cool, and from there it's accepted as awesome. There's no standard for cool. Cool changes left and right, and today I complain about those who will deny their upbringing to be cool.

We've all seen it. People running around with Old school NES shirts. People running around with Megaman on their shirt, people running around with a 1up mushroom.

The first time I saw the 1up shirt, I just about peed my pants in joy. It was literally the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I decided then and there that if I saw a girl running around with an old school shirt, I'd be all over her. It was cool, and we all knew it was cool. The world soon caught on, and the Retro Revolution was upon us.

There was no denying it, I was a little jealous of the cool shirts. I can honestly say that I was brough up on the old school NES, I could name all the characters on the shirts, In fact, I still remembered some of the cheats to the games. I loved it. I loved seeing the old school getting the fame it deserves. It was just so friggin cool!

And then, I discovered something that shook my life. Something so sickening, that I was turned away from every girl that would ever wear and old school shirt. The retro revolution, which I loved, was now defiled.

I discovered that about 80% of the people running around with NES shirts had actually never played NES. People running around, never really played Old school, but have an Old school shirt. Scott Malone, with the megaman shirt. Idiots running around, proudly donning the NES Logo, while never having played. I felt betrayed.

How can they get the fame, the popularity, the respect from fellow nerds, when they didn't know that samus was a chick?! In fact, they thought her name was metroid. Oh the injustice of it all. There are some of us out there, some of us that really were weaned on NES. We are the true followers of the Old school. But 9 times out of 10, those that wear the shirts never played. They don't know how to blow in the cartridge just right to make it play. They've never known the horror of the flashing gray screen when you want to play, but it won't work. They've never known. And yet, they feel it's ok to take that logo on them, and take the fame that follows it.

My friends, that is what is wrong with today. Today, people are selling out, to be cool. People are jumping on the bandwagon. People like Bill who never touched an NES controller, but will wear one to be cool. If there is one thing I refuse to stand, it is somebody that denies the way he was brought up.

People that like Lord of the Rings because of the movies. You know, I read most of those books in 3rd grade. And suddenly, its now cool, and everybody is reading them. And they think they are cool because of that. Pokemon, what a cool gameboy game. And then there are those that think its awesome because the cards had cool pictures on them. ~sigh~

People, you can't just jump into rocky II and decide that it is the best series ever made. No, you have to see Rocky I. People are dumb. I feel personally offended that Nick has made me despise the 1up mushroom. What does he know about Mario? I know mario personally. Mario raised me. People forget who they are. People forget their loyalties. This retro revolution, it is well deserved. Those were some of the coolest games ever. They were awesome. But how many people really know that? They just like the shirts.

In the quest to be cool, they've ruined something for me. I hope you're all happy. Because of you, when I find the coolest girl ever, that grew up playing Old school NES, I'm not going to trust her, and then Ill never get to know her, then we wont fall in love, and live happily ever. I hope you're happy.

March 14 Ramblings

I'm going to post everything that bothers me in here, all my random thoughts, and all the junk I'm thinking in this little blog. This is the view of me, I'm 14, and a nerd. If one disagrees with me, comment on it, and then we'll argue some more.

Today has been pretty good, It's Pi day. I don't have too much to complain about, but I've got a little stored up yet, so let's talk about that.

One thing that has really been bothering me lately is how stupid the world has become. The whole world is worried. We are preoccupied with the wrong things, and we aren't achieving what needs to be achieved. Capitalism rocks, but the culture of lets sue over everything has ruined the world's progress.

Let's talk about school for a bit. Do you know why they can't teach me some stuff in here? Because someone stupid complained about it. Somebody stupid complained that what they were learning was too hard, or too violent, or too religious. Somebody stupid ruined it for me. Instead of just sitting there, and taking it like a man, they went to their parents, and their parents complained. And thus, that was taken out of schools. When my sister was in 5th grade, her teacher was reading Jurassic Park to the class. That's a pretty tight book, but some lamewad complained that the book was too violent, so her mother complained. So, Mr. Bauer never finished the book.

So, my sister was deprived that oppurtunity because somebody couldn't hack it. It seems thats always how the world works. I'm always getting the crap shortchanged out of me, just to make sure everything is pleasing to those people who will explode if they go outside. Things can't be dangerous anymore. The world is wrapped in bubble wrap, just incase somebody might hurt themselves on the actual walls. Walls don't exist anymore, but bubblewrapped walls fill the world.

Why is it that no matter what happens, we need a permission slip? We needed a blasted permission slip to roll around on the gym floor! Just because somebody stupid might get hurt, and then their parents would sue. I'm so grateful that the world is safer now because of stupid parents. Im so glad that I can't do what I want to do, and I can't do what I should be able to do, because somebody dumb got hurt. They ruined it. The fact that people can sue because their kid is a dork is retarded. I'm tired of it.

I honestly think that this is what's wrong with the world right now. Not world hunger, not wars, but stupid parents. Why can't the medical community forge ahead and fix problems? Because there's a real small chance that somebody is gonna grow a third ear. And if somebody grows a third ear, and they sue, the company loses everything, and they're out of business. It's easier to make money churning out tried and proven drugs then it is to take a chance on the miracle drug. Because somebody stupid might sue, they don't have cures for anything. I'm sure that they could be close to alot. But of course, somebody might sue, so they can't take a chance.

My wish of the day: People would accept that they got hosed, and stop suing.

My ultimatum of the day: I volunteer myself to be a casualty of medicine. I'll get poked, and prodded, and I won't sue. Let's solve some problems while I'm here. If i grow a 3rd ear, Hooray. Anybody that wouldnt like me if I had a 3rd ear doesn't really like me anyways.

Ambulance chasers, and stupid people trying to make a living by suing big companies: Your days are numbered. It will take a long time before America smacks you, but when we finally realize how you've messed up the country just for some money, you're gonna get smacked.

Stop being selfish, Stop wasting my time. Let us do what we need to do. You're done boys.