Step Back

 It was my first time that I had went skiing that year, and at the time my life was pretty hectic. I wondered if it was a good idea to go with my friends that day, because there were many things I felt could've been accomplished by staying home. I talked to my parents and told them that I wasn't going to go with my friends to seven springs. When my dad heard he pulled me to the side and gave me some of the best advice I have ever heard. He told me that he knows how crazy my life had been, and that I felt like I needed to stay home, but sometimes you need to step away and completely forget about the situation. So I went, but never really fully understood what he was trying to tell me.

On my way up the ski lift, I was still in sort of depression mode, with things running through my head. My friends asked what was wrong but I didn't have an answer for them. When we got to the top, we got off the lift and took a seat for a second waiting for the snowboarders to get their bindings snapped in. And when I sat down, looked out over the mountain with the pure white snow coating every inch with people happily flying down the hill on skis I finally realized exactly what my dad meant. For the rest of the day there wasn't one thing that could have gotten in my way of being happy, being myself.

It is very hard for us to not think about whats most important on our mind, because our priorities make it that way. We think in order of importance. But when you seperate yourself from the normal world, you no longer feel like it is important to worry so much. That day, the most important thing on my mind was getting down the hill alive. And when I got back in the car, I saw a lot of things much clearer.

Memoir

A day of nothing to do, nowhere to b e, and three guys bored out of their mind. My friends Jon, Andrew, and myself start brainstorming things to come up with for the rest of the day. Do we go outside and play some sort of backyard sport, do we drive around all day hoping to find someone to save us, or do we do something completely random that none of us had ever guessed we’d be doing? And if you knew us, you would know that we picked that last option. A commercial comes on the TV for Cabela’s , and someone asks, “how far away is that?” The answer we found was around an hour, which made it even more appealing to us, because the farther away the better. Now you must remember that none of us had any intention whatsoever to purchase anything at this store based on the fact that we’ve never hunted before, and fishing wan’t big on our list either. But for some reason it still called to us. So we jumped in our cars, told our parents we were going to each other’s houses, and met at Jon’s. We drove and felt so free, nobody there telling us what to do, listening to our music, and forgetting about everything else in our lives. We got to the point where we were almost too content with our situation, as we took the completely wrong highway and ended up in a complete different state. Did this bother us though, absolutely not. In fact, we just laughed it off and found more good than harm done. When we arrived at Cabelas, we were completely lost in a world that none of us were introduced to, we didn’t fit in at all. But we stuck together and walked around that store keeping our minds open. From elephants, to rooms full of deer, to aquariums, to just the people in general at a Cabelas in West Virginia, we were having a lot of fun. We didn’t fit in, but we were perfectly fine with that. And I’m sure that if I was with anybody else that day, even if we did somehow end up at Cabelas, we would be there for five minutes and get out,  but not my friends. We stuck it out, and really got to see a different lifestyle than what we are used to.

And believe it or not, if we were ever bored in the summer, we grabbed our fishing rods and went to a lake. Opening your eyes to things out of the ordinary gives you new dimensions of life to think about. Now I haven’t seen Jon for about four months, but  Andrew and I still try to do our best opening our minds up and keep some sort of diversity in our lives.

9 Things nobody knows about me

1. Im in love with captain crunch
2. I win solitaire at least once a day
3. I don't actually like blogging, but i have to
4. If it was possible in todays society i would do away with computers and cell phones
5. I like to drive
6. I like any type of music
7. I don't really like sleeping, but when i go to sleep i can't wake up
8. I hate dealing with alot of people at once
9. i was going to do 10 but the bells about to ring

Tom stole my idea, Sucka Free Sunday

Everybody likes music. People pick the music that they like based on the personalities that they have. It could be something that you can relate to , but the great thing is it doesn't have to. I prefer to use music as a sanctuary where i can escape from things going on in my life, and just listen. To get away from all worries, stresses, and just listen to the melodies and stories they have to tell. However, sometime music is also great because it can help guide you in the direction your looking to go in. I like literally any type of music, I will not be discontent with anything that comes on the radio, unless it sounds like it was written by a 4th grader(ex. "Ke$ha"). My favorite type of music though would have to be country. I like country because I can relate to it alot, but also they have funny stories, and the songs are catchy and you can get lost in it.

What i think about in my free time...

The things that run through my head when I get the time to think are rediculous. I come up with some very hard questions to answer, and just think until i can reason with my self. For example, one thing i have always wondered was what makes us who we are? What makes us respond to things the way we do, what makes us have the drive to do what we do, what makes us talk the way that we do, and many other things. And my answer is very simple. Everything. Every single thing that you do, every person you meet, every event you attend, every word that is spoken to you, has an affect on your life in some way. This can be exemplified by how you were raised. The reason why many of us grow up similar to how our family is, is because we are exposed to them so often. Now i'm not saying that any random guy you bump into has a drastic effect on you're life, but it will change you in even the slightest way.

Say you are walking through a crowd of people, and you accidentally bump into somebody, and he flashes you a dirty look. Your response to this dirty look revovles around how you were brought up, if your a fighter you will probably give him a look back, but if your more passive than most likely its an "im sorry". But think about this, what happens the next time when you walk through a crowd of people, you will either be more careful about where your walking, or you will be more clueless, depending on how the last time you were in the situation resulted.

Now, what about the people that you don't like, the people that you try to completely avoid. You may think that that have no affect on your life, but actually quite the opposite is occurring. These people make you shape yourself into everything that they are not. By disliking them, they are actually helping you become the person youd like to be.

"Be yourself" is one of the most misused sayings in the american language. Nobody is born with attitude characteristics, but rather they see everytthing happen around them and learn from it. We are what we surround ourselves with.

Did you get what you wanted?

I have no problem with trying to cut down on drugs and alcohol in schools, but the only thing were doing is taking it to the extreme. Sure having possession of these things is illegal let alone on school property, and i do not condone the use OR possession at anytime, but locking the school down for half an hour while drug dogs pick apart our lockers is unnessecary and does have its cons. The students at West Allegheny have now been labeled as drug addicts and alcoholics. These procedures may make our school a safer place, but it sure doesn't give us that idea. Now every parent in western pennsylvania have read the news and thinks that now that we search for drugs, that every student at West Allegheny has a problem, which is far from the truth.
 After this first search, sure people got caught, but only a limited number of people who were stupid enough to get themselves into the situation in the first place. Do this test at any other school and I will GUARANTEE you will find much more serious problems than a couple of young, stupid, immature kids that make up such a small population of our school. The fact that we are taking a small problem to such extreme measures will make me and many other students embarrased to admit that we go to this school when talking to outsiders now that we have this label. So keep the tests coming. Most of my classmates and myself have nothing to hide, but remember the effects it has on our community.

They say time is money...

To me, there may not be enough time in a day to get schoolwork done, to get extracurricular activites done, to sleep, to eat, and to rest throughout the day but there sure as heck is enought time in the long run. The average life expectancy is somewhere around 80 years. This is 29200 days. If you can't find time in those days to do something youve always wanted to do, than obviously it's not important enough. Being a senior in high school i can relate. Sure time that i have left with my friends is dwindling down, but if I had a chance to do it over again I wouldn't change a thing. There has been mistakes made, but those mistakes make each person who they are today. At the age of 17, I already feel like I have lived a long life. I have made some very important memories and can't believe that I could possibly live 50 some years longer.
And regarding a day to day thing, you have 24 hours to get anything done that you need. If theres something you can't done, then you have to sacrifice something else like sleep, but thats your option.
The great thing about time is that it is the only predictable thing in your life. It will never change. You could have 0 dollars in your bank account, but you will always have TIME.