Starry Nights and Below Frezzing Temperatures (5)

So after getting up at 7 a.m for a ski fundraiser. (I am not a skiier by the way) I went out and did alot in one day. Lifeguarded, filmed a movie for my aunt, went to a play, hung out with my brothers, and lastly, helped work at a dinner. The day was winding to a close. It was about 10 p.m. My awesome girlfriend just gave me a ride to my car. It was at the golf course. We went to my car and we knew we both wanted to chill for a little while longer. We saw the blankets sprawled out at the bottom of my car. She jokingly said "Let's go walk the course! :P" I saw her breath as she said this. It was chilly. We wrapped ourselves up in blankets and took off. We didn't make it far before we both just gave in. We decided to lie down on the green and look at the stars. It was romantic to say the least. It was really cold though. I was frezzing. Worth it though. This was probably the most romantic date I have ever been on. We sat and talked and talked. The time flew by. Oddly, one of my favorite parts was when we called my phone to see where it was. She wanted to leave me a voicemail. So she talked and gave me a message for me whenever I wanted to hear it. After some playful rolling around on the green she lost her phone. I found mine so I decided to call her phone. I left her a voice mail just like the one she left me. Despite the cold this had my list for top dates so far :)

Give creativity a try (4)

So there I was sitting in the middle of a play about to fall asleep. My girlfriend who was sitting next to me grabbed my hand and that woke me up. It made me think about how long I have been with this girl. It has been almost two months. So being the creative guy I am, I soon thought that I need to celebrate this very minor thing in an elaborate way. I came up with this great idea of simply just writting a letter to her but each word is on a sticky note and I end up sticky noting her car... Well the weather prevents me from doing such... :( So I then had to start brainstorming some new ideas. I came up with a short one but I knew she would love it. I added on a little more to that idea. I then thought of a few more little things I could do. Now I am back to an elaborate plan! It should work swell! :D All I can say is Kara, I hope your ready! ;)

Five Minutes (3)

Five minutes is not a long period of time. Recently I was at WASC in Casper. After sitting in various classrooms and workshops and listening to platforms being mercilessly shot down and rejected, I found myself physically and emotionally drained. I didn't know what to do. After shooting down various girls who admired me and wanted my number desperately, I found myself wanting to do one thing. That was a quick call to my girlfriend, who I really missed. I had only five minutes of free time during my dinner break before I had to go vote for the new State officers. So I waited and waited until her phone was on. I made sure she was done with ski practice. I knew she was going to the college fair that night. I got excited when I realized that the possibility of a quick five minute was some what possible.

I got excited and dialed the number. I sat there on the bench anxiously waiting for her to pick up. It felt like i had not seen her in forever. She picked up the phone. I asked her if she would like to chat for five minutes. She said she was busy doing homework and she was sorry. I told her it was only going to be for five minutes. She didn't even seem to care. She said bye and hung up on me. I sat there in disbelief. She wouldn't even sacrifice five minutes for her boyfriend.

Swim season starts soon for me. Her skiing started that day. This made me realize something that I have been hiding from myself. To keep my relationship alive during swim season is going to be nearly impossible. I sat their and almost started crying. My emotions plummeted. I hit rock bottom. My mood was extremely melancholy. I couldn't get over the fact that she wouldn't sacrifice five minutes for me. Is that really all to much to ask? She wouldn't give up five minutes out of two hours of studying. Well that shows what I mean to her... I think that is close to nothing...

Personal Narrative

 

What If

 Sound of white water roaring in my ears, beams of sun reflecting off of my sun glasses, and majestic canyon walls shooting up to the sky, this was the scene of my ever approaching death. Unlike popular belief my life did not flash before my eyes, contrary to this stereotype, my eyes peered into my oncoming oblivion. Lenny and I paddled our way onto the top of a gigantic wave. The next 10 seconds of my life happened in slow motion. It was unreal and dream like. I was moving like it was a dream. My head robotically turned to the left. My cohort, Lenny shot me an expression that is engraved in my mind forever, perhaps my soul too. A tear formed in my eye and began to roll down my cheek. This was a hole. A hole is a huge hazard in a river. I bestowed the name Bertha upon this hole. Myriads of kayaker’s moments before were appetizers for Bertha. She grasped them into her bosom. We knew the danger that was at hand. Our heads mechanically turned foreword. Our plunge into our death was now. 

Jaws dropped and fear was expressed in the form of vulgar words. In seconds our raft was seven feet down. I assumed fetal position. My eyes glazed with fear while I glanced down at the chicken line. I was glad that our raft was equipped with this most elite and valuable piece of gear. This rope that lined the raft was meant for only "chickens" to grasp. I would rather lose my pride than lose my entire life. My hands clenched the line of rope forcefully. I looked up to see my imminent doom approach. It was a white darkness. A wave of white water several feet tall towered over me. A wall of water shook me and made my ancestor's tremble. 

Bertha grasped the raft as a whole and brought it into her unforgiving bosom. Ice cold water from the Yampa River entered into my ears as if it were an invited guest. My dry suit's purpose seemed to be no more. It felt as if my body became a measly piece of laundry and tossed into a washer.  Bertha violently shook me, but she could not pry my finger tips from the chicken line. Looking back, that chicken line became a life line for me. At one point I was in no control of my body. In this rush I wondered why was I being shaken so much and not just spit out of Bertha. I came to the verdict that this was God's way of washing me before I ascended into Heaven. The song November Rain by Guns 'n Roses began playing mentally in my head. My body was slowly rising. 

The thunderous sounds of Hell's forge consumed my thoughts. I could hear once again, granted the sounds were not beautiful but that meant I was resurfacing on top of the water. My eyes shot open, yet I could not yet see anything. Air filled my once depleted lungs. I gasped. My life had been spared. Once the water cleared from my glasses I looked across from me. I peered and saw my companion trembling with fear.

"Lenny I love you!" I yelled.

"Nick I love you too!" Lenny shot back.

Just like before our eyes met. We then realized that we were not done with our journey. Bertha kept us in her bosom. We were surfing. She had not spat us out just yet. She wanted to have some fun with us. We had no choice. Lenny and I carefully crawled to each other for a hug of brotherly love. We had eluded death together, and now we were stuck surfing together until Bertha did not want to play with our semi naked bodies anymore.

This experience has changed my life in many ways. It has made me a more cautious person overall. It opened my eyes to a new perspective of life. It has made me realize that if my life were to become no more on any given day, I would be missed. It made me feel very blessed for the life that I have. The rest of the day on the river made me sit back and think. I played the “what if” game for hours. I thought about what if that event had gone south. It made me realize that I am not an invincible person and that I could die at any given moment.

A mental movie of my course instructor’s desperately swimming through rapids to retrieve my body just to find out I was dead soon started playing in my head. In my mental movie they then tossed my lifeless body onto the oar rig and finished the rapids. They called from the satellite phone at the closet place they could. Within hours my body would be on a helicopter flying home to my parents so they could bury their own child. It gave me the chills. It opened my eyes to something new. I did not want to die. I did not want to put my parents burying their own child. That is not right. Ultimately this experience has changed my life…

Sound of white water roaring in my ears, beams of sun reflecting off of my sun glasses, and majestic canyon walls shooting up to the sky, this was the scene of my ever approaching death. Unlike popular belief my life did not flash before my eyes, contrary to this stereotype, my eyes peered into my oncoming oblivion. Lenny and I paddled our way onto the top of a gigantic wave. The next 10 seconds of my life happened in slow motion. It was paranormal. My head robotictally turned to the left. My cohort, Lenny shot me an expression that is engraved in my mind forever, perhaps my soul too. A tear formed in my eye and began rolling down my cheek. This was a hole. (This is a huge hazard in a river for non-boating folks) I bestowed the name Bertha upon this hole. Myriads of kayakers moments before our descent became appetizers for Bertha. She consumed them into her bosom. We knew the danger that was at hand. Our heads mechanically turned foreword. Our plunge into our death was at hand. Jaws dropped and fear was expressed in the form of vulgar words. In seconds our raft was seven feet down. I assumed fetal position. My glazed with fear eyes glanced at the chicken line. I was glad that our raft was equipped with this most elite valuable piece of gear. This rope lined the raft was only "chickens" grasp onto this rope. I would rather let my pride then then lose my entire life. My hands clenched the line of rope forcefully. I looked up to see my intimate doom approach. It was a white darkness. I wave of white water several feet tall towered over me. A wall of water shook me and made my ancestor's tremble. Bertha grasped the raft as a whole and inhaled it into her unforgiving bosom. Ice cold water from the Yampa River entered into my ear's as if it were an invited guest. My dry suit's purpose seemed to be no more. It felt as if my body became a measly piece of laundry and tossed into a dryer. Bertha violently shook me, but she could not pry my finger tips from the chicken line. Looking back, that chicken line was more of a life line for me. I was in no control of my body at this point. In this rush I wondered why was i being shaken so much and not just spit out of Bertha. I came to the verdict that this was God's way of washing me before I ascended into Heaven. The song November Rain by Guns 'n Roses began playing mentally in my head. My body was slowly rising. The thunderous sounds of Hell's forge consumed my thoughts. I could hear once again, granted the sounds were not beauty but that meant I was on the surface of the water. My eyes shot open, yet I could not yet see anything. Air filled my once depleted lungs. I gasped. My life had been spared. Once the water cleared from my glasses I looked across from me. I peered and saw my companion trembling with fear."Lenny I love you!" I yelled."Nick I love you too!" Lenny shot back.Just like before our eyes met. We then realized that we were not done with our journey. Bertha kept us in her bosom. We were surfing. She had not spat us out just yet. She wanted to have some fun with us. We had no choice. Lenny and I carefully crawled to each other for a hug of brotherly love. We had eluded death together, and now we were stuck surfing together until Bertha did not want to play with our semi naked bodies anymore.

Ligeia

Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe was definitely an acid trip of a story. It opens up with him, the narrator, mumbling on in a romanticism voice about his long lost love Ligeia. This character as we know from relying on our not so reliable narrator, is a real person. As we read further in the story we being to learn about our narrator letting himself dwell into "Opium dreams." " In my excitement of my opium dreams (for I was habitually fettered in the shackles of the drug) I would call upon her name, during the silence of the night..." (Ligeia 9) This inadvertently enables the reader to draw the simple conclusion that the narrator was an opium addict at one point or another. This idea can then build upon itself in the mind of the reader. They will then begin to question the narrator and they will question the whole perspective of the story. Some may believe Ligiea is a beautiful dazzling women in an opium dream. Some people may believe that she was real. My opinion lies on the fine line in between. I think that she was a real person at one point with real feelings and emotions for the narrator. I also believe that they had a falling out and she disappeared from his life. " And then I peered into the eyes of Ligeia..." (Ligeia 2) This is evidence that things were getting a little weird. The narrator explains in great detail about Ligeia's eyes and how they are paranormal. This leads to to believe that Ligeia sort of evolved into a paranormal character during his opium dream, when really she left his life a long time ago. Ligeia was someone in his life. Not a major character, just someone. Then in an opium dream she evolves into a dynamic character. My verdict is that she was at one time an influence on the narrator but then disappeared and he thought she was still alive but really she was gone.

Transcendentalism

    The enlightenment of literature and other important items during the nineteenth century would be an excellent term to define the Transcendentalism movement in America. It flourished in new ideas such as those expressed in the Renisannse. Religion, literature and culture were some of the key things that changed during this time period. The key players of this movement were going against the belief's and teachings of the Unitarian church and just in general the way of life during the day and the culture that surrounded it.

    The key players who started the ball rolling in this movement were many. The most well-known was Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson himself. When his essay Nature was published in 1836 it inadvertly started the snow ball effect that would soon evolve into the Transcendentalism movement. This essay started a whole knew branch of literature persay. Idea after idea thought after thought and finally the Transcendentalism movement was solid, it was offical. Myriads of writters expressed their beliefs and thoughts through literature and writting.

    These people were expressing belief's against the Unitarian church. They believed that a person's spirtual state supposedly transcended their phyiscal state on earth. That is where the term "Transcendentalism" came from. This was the polar opposite of what the Unitarian church taught by Harvard Divinity school. In my opinion they were supporters against church doctrine and organized religion. They were more of the people who believed that religion was a one on one experince with God.

    This movement shaped American history in many ways. Famous essays and memorable pieces of writting were composed during this time period. It shed light on new ideas that had not been discovered or thought about yet. They changed the ideas of entire bodies of people around America. This snowballed into something that became huge...