Nonsensical Notes from Comp Class

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Okay then folks. I’m just going to go ahead and post this little bit I wrote in Honors Comp today. You might ask why I’m posting this. Well simple answer is, I don’t know. My mind is simply all a flurry today and not for good reasons. As such, I think I’ll be random and post my notes on my Composition blog for no apparent reason.

I could give you an entire nonsensical discourse on why I put this on the blog. I could give you a beautiful discourse I had the other night with a friend on why armadillos are better than trees, but I digress.

The point is it’s on the blog.

We don’t know why.

We don’t care why.

In all probability no one reads this crazy thing anyway and the Professor thinks I’m an insane sad excuse for a student. So why am I doing this?

To rant, to express myself and hopefully find that little scrap of sanity left in my brain after the common sense moved out and left that wonderful ‘This Space For Rent’ sign. I’m pretty sure right now there are a couple of dust bunnies looking at moving in, but we’re not sure, they haven’t made a bid and I’m pretty sure they don’t have enough for the down payment. Well with that being said: here’s my notes from today’s class.

Things I hate

Close-minded people

Sexist people

Racist People

Bad attitudes

Insensitive jerks who enjoy running over other people just because they are different

Shopping

Valley girls

Southern accent haters

People who’s IQs are smaller than their shoe size because they don’t care to work at becoming better people

Being lonely

Mental breakdowns

Hypocrites

The Cubs

Jeff Gordon

People who tell me I’m worthless

Overtly hypocritical religious zealots

Rod Blagojevich

Emil Jones

Dick Durbin

Tomatoes

People who just don’t care

My body type

That my ears don’t match

My lack of social skills

Ok this wasn’t part of the assignment, but I feel like writing a ‘things I like’ list just to balance out all the bad karma here.

Things I like

Ketchup

Helping other people

4-H /All my awesome 4-H friends

Being good at what I do

Philosophy

Networking

Learning new skills/facts

Books of all types (!!!!!!)

Rednecks (I live in a small town in Central Illinois. It’s irony. Learn to like it.)

Cowboys/girls

Farm / Ag people

Running

Business people

People involved in politics/government (notice I did not say politicians)

Wise individuals. Note: Wisdom cannot be found in a text book or on a college campus and is not always found with age. Wisdom is found through understanding.

Good teachers/ professors who love their jobs despite the grossly unfair pay

Cars

Money (Hey, I ain’t gonna lie. I like money. That’s why this is an ‘I like’ list instead of an ‘I love’ list.)

Being valued as a person/friend

Counseling people/listening to their troubles/offering advice

Public Speaking (!!!)

Writing (!!!!!!!!!!!)

Manners/Decorum/Honor

Diversity

My incredibly strange and often mysterious way of thinking

DOCUMENTARY:

I feel I should write my reaction to this documentary as I watch it. Yes I know it’s biased. But just the fact that this hits really close to home for me. I mean I COME from that area of America. I AM that. My father is a truck driver, my mother is a part time secretary. I mean, I UNDERSTAND what these people are talking about. Gosh darn it all, this is all too familiar.

You know as I think about this, I wonder how many people in this room right now have actually had a parent lose a job. How about a parent who is the main breadwinner for the household? I honestly wonder that. I don’t mean it reproachfully, I mean it as an honest question. Does this documentary ring as true for others as it does for me?

How do you stand up for yourself? How on earth do you do it when you can’t stand on your own two feet as it is? You can’t afford to do anything? You can’t go to college, you HAVE no opportunities. You can’t do anything? How do you escape?

Huh?

You can’t, oh well…. Ok.

You are a prisoner of the system. Walmart does kill communities. But how can you get out?

I want to fight for the underdog! Gosh darn it. This movie is biased against Walmart, I know, but honestly this ignites that little passionate fire in me. Especially when they start talking about worker’s rights. I eventually would like to end up in labor relations or labor law as an attorney. I know it’s a dangerous job for those in the legal profession, but its something I have always had a great passion for: standing up for people.

Note: Inspiration for nonsense provided courtesy of the following brilliant blogs

http://race-08.livejournal.com/

http://o-the-insanity.blogspot.com/

Since no one reads this thing anyway, I thought I’d go ahead and tell you that I didn’t copy anything from the above mentioned blogs, these are two very close friends of mine. You can see the influence of ‘random writings’ they have exerted on me….

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ARRRGGGG! Why can't anyone just give me a straight answer?!

Alright, so this post has no literary or written value besides the fact that I have to say something about what has just happened. Again, don't read this, I beg you, I am simply going to rant to let off steam.

I am a MC3 student here on campus, one of nine students on campus who participate in a program where Americorps pays us to do volunteer work in the community along with giving us an educational award. Now, I was all geared up for this. I was ready, I have volunteer opportunities a plenty around this area because, obviously I live only twenty minutes from Springfield and the fact that I'm an incredible networking agent. Needless to say, I was stoked, excited, ready to run as I knew what I was doing and I knew I could do it WELL. Then the bomb shell comes approximately 15 minutes ago. This entire time I was told that M3C students get paid to do this volunteer work, ok, I get it. I was pleasantly surprised when I was told this information because I was all worried about finding a job. (For those of you who don't know, I am paying college on my own. No parental help, no loans etc. I'm doing this on scholarships I have won and I intend for this all to be on me, as it should be.) Anyway, so I stopped looking for a job after I found out about this. Naively thinking that oh, I'm going to be fine now because I'm going to be getting minimum wage for volunteering. I have enough connections in the community that I could find enough volunteer work to keep me busy for a long long long time.

But now, the bombshell. Of course, things always go wrong. To quote someone else "Duh." Now I'm told that because I didn't take federal work study I cannot participate in the program. I WAS NEVER TOLD THIS!!! So now I've wasted an entire month which could've been spent finding a job. This really really worries me now because I've got to try and find a job with even less time now.... Great... I know I shouldn't be worried, I should just calm down and trust in the Lord to take care of me. However, this is very hard to do for someone such as myself who is such a spendthrift and inherently fiscally conscious. *Sigh* This just completely throws off my wonderfully orchestrated schedule. I suppose that IS the purpose of this though... to screw up my schedule and subsequently my day for today....

Oh well...

I guess this just means I go back to the overloaded schedule I had BEFORE coming to college... nice... stressful... back to good ol' antisocial, workaholic, living I see.

The Spider

My mother asked me to go outside to turn the filter on our swimming pool tonight. Grudgingly, I slipped on my tennis shoes and flipped on the porch light and went out to complete the chore. As I stepped outside, I first looked up to see that the dark sky held only clouds and one low flying helicopter instead of it's usual menagerie of stars. Sighing at the clouds that covered the moon, I bent to my task of turning on the filter.

After fulfilling my mission, I turned to go back into the house when I noticed a movement near the far post of our porch. Curious, I took my hand off the door knob and walked over to investigate.

There, suspended between the white post and the top edge of the roof, was a spider web and the largest garden spider I had seen in a long while. The arachnid seemed oblivious of me, and was in the process of placing the spiraling 'sticky' strands on its web. I stood there and marveled at the spider as it worked: there had to be at least twenty or thirty spirals in this already gaping web. Yet, its craftsman kept up a blistering pace as it 'tip toed' from each of the smooth anchor strands to lay more of the trap.

Intriged, I skipped inside and took a flashlight out to inspect more of this masterpeice. As soon as I shined my light upon the spider, however, I instantly regretted it as it retreated to the middle of the web. Apparently my 'backyard artist' was not willing to allow me to watch its handicraft anymore. Still, I studied the web for a few minutes longer.

I changed my position to look from the opposite side of the web, and view the underside of my spider. Its chelicera and spinnerets flickered in agitation, or so I suppose it was agitation, when my spotlight returned to it. Suddenly, a moth, attracted by my flashlight, flew into the web. In a flash, the spider was upon it and began to try to capture it. It was both strange and familiar to see the fluttering wings of the moth fighting against the long, thin appendages of the garden spider. Unfortunately for the spider, the moth broke free at the last possible moment and flew off. A meal would have to wait.

"Not tonight, my friend." I whispered to the spider and shut off my flashlight.
I took one last long look at the web and went back inside the house.



(This is a randmon note.... but... well... isn't it funny what God has us stop and look at? Such small things have such incredible thought put into them, do they not? Perhaps I am crazy (for I know I am insane..) but sometimes one thinks about things for the sake of admiring our creator's handiwork and how we fit into the scheme of things.)