Captured Thought: Looking in the Glass

Oh the pressures of high school and the stress of life. Sometimes I scream into my pillow hoping my stone cold cries would freeze a moment in time where I could sort things out. My grades, my classes, my friends, my activities, my thoughts, hopes and dreams, I feel as if I'm being tugged into an undertow... being jostled in a way that's as disorienting as tiring, waves crash down once more while my body is tugged in a multitude of directions. What really captivated me was why do I put myself through this? Stress is a part of life, but do I make it harder on myself than necessary? I started to think about balance, and which balance would make me happy when I came across a completely different point altogether. Am I who I want to be? How satisfied I am with my life is completely predicated off of what my parents, friends, and when you get down to it, what the world thinks of me. I'm sick of trying to please everyone, but can I break free from my own standards now so reinforced I can't differentiate if they were mine or my brothers'? My dad introduced me to a poem a year or to ago, which I haven't thought about until tonight to be honest. It's called "Man in the glass." It doesn't matter what the world may say, because until you can look at yourself in that glass and like what you see, you will never be happy. I'm going to have to go through my life and figure out what it takes for me to like who I am. Once I figure it out, maybe life will smooth some bumps out. I'll be searching until then...

iMedia: Sweet Caroline

***
Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing strong
Oh, wasn't the spring, whooo
And spring became the summer
Who'd believe you'd come along

Hands, touching hands, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would

And now I, I look at the night, whooo
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two, oh
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulder
How can I hurt when holding you

Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
Oh I've been inclined to believe it never would

Ohhh, sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good
***

Is there anything that can unite a few strangers like a set of common lyrics, and just voices courageous enough to belt them out? I've always been awed by the power behind a good sing-a-long. And let me be the one to tell you, Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" is the epitome of all sing-a-long songs. Fenway Park gets the entire stadium to sing the famous lyrics in the 8th inning of every home game. There fails to be a bar where there isn't one drunkard who wouldn't be willing to recite the lyrics when they hear the opening notes...not that I would know.

Sweet Caroline is an extremely addictive song for me personally, knowing full well that after I hear the chorus just once, it will be in my head for the rest of the week. It's not particularly the deepest or most profound song, and it is not one that would be a hit among today's rascals if it were to be released. It's slightly on the slower side with simplistic lyrics. I find that while that could bore many in most instances, it makes this song. It doesn't do anything flashy to try to sell. Keeping the lyrics basic allows the happy-go-lucky feeling of a crush to carry through, and it makes it near impossible to forget and thus impossible to not sing along to. My favorite part, is the build of anticipation to the chorus. "Hands, touching hands, reaching out, Touching me, touching you," it grows in emotion as the relationship and depth in the song also grows until, "SWEET CAROLINE, " it explodes.

I sing this song in my head on a bus ride. I dance to this song alone in my room. The true beauty of this song comes out though, when it is sung out loud, together, amongst friends or strangers. Everyone has experienced a first crush feeling the song describes, which allows everyone to connect to the lyrics. Its the emotion that everyone puts forth singing along that unites people if only for an instance. It puts you on cloud nine.

I dare you to not sing along as you try for yourself...

Blogging Around: 10-12

I posted on Kyle's blog because he very much addressed multiple levels of Weapons Manufactoring. I just came back from a debate tournament, which included intense debates over Hegemony and massive weapons and philosophy, and felt that the last 2 debates I watched applied quite nicely.

"Kyle,This post is really interesting in the fact that you address it on a multidude of levels. I really enjoyed it because it reminds me of a debate argument I heard today and yesterday. Hegemony, sumed up in two words, is American prodominence. It can be good because Hegemony is argued to be stabalizing; we keep a check on countries and keep conflicts to a minimum. Hegemony can also be problematic in the fact that other countries also strive to be global leaders, and thus, inevitable wars would break out due to fighting to be the world's great power. What is an important debate in itself connected to this issue is is hegemony inevitable? That's where I felt that you made a uniquely compelling argument. Are weapon manufactoring going to continue inevitably? Could all the nations just stop? It's a great argument that swings both sides in debate, so bravo. :D_Alyssa "

Another argument that was buzzing in and out of my ears this weekend was the elections; who was going to win and why. I personally think Palin is a horrible VP choice, but Mitch's blog atleast made me consider why she hasn't had as negetive effect on her party's success as I would have predicted.

"Mitch -
I think you did a good job talking about the different opinions knowing your personal bias, but I felt you could still have brought more of your opinion into it. Explain how you typically felt beforehand and what was your end imprssion after doing the 360? I guess I'm still a little dumbfounded that people like Palin as a vice presidential candidate, you're points do help me in that retrospec. How this never took true weight on the Elections DA astounds me too._Alyssa"

360 Degrees: The Power of Words

I don't swear. Profanity and all of its vulgarity, all of its curses, all of the 'sailor's tongues' had always made me turn my head. About 1 out of every 20 of my friends agree with me. The power of the words said can be regretful, but there is something to be said about their strength as well.

Swears are spoken on rare occasions for a reason; or at least, they are meant to be. Intended to express sincere, intense emotion, swears can fulfill their job. However, many high school students have relied on them too heavily and now I find many can't speak a literate sentence without wanting to throw that extra word between pauses. Which makes me wonder, what does modern society benefit from the use of swears? I felt that swears were often said out of hate, and in a moment of vulnerability. The few times I swear, I never achieve the satisfaction I want and have just ended up trying to apologize to those I've offended. Keep in mind, I tend to apologize more than the average teenager, though. So in the moments people just let out a curse, is it a weight they try to lift? Does Gosh Darn** it really capture one's emotions better than a good ol' Gee Jolly Wilikers? Sure, if its the principal of the matter, having a right to swear and let one now your level of seriousness could be useful. Relying on it to be taken seriously in my mind is a rights movement waiting to happen... but maybe that's my head working on a tangent. What I do acknowledge is teenagers relying on it as their daily vocabulary. What's the point in that case? I can no longer tell if my friends are sarcastic or serious, angry or just joking when they cuss me out.

I think there are a lot of benefits and disadvantages to swearing. There is some level of seriousness directly correlated to certain words, but in the same respect, there's a responsibility that you can be held accountable to those you hurt from your comments. My method of no swears may be lacking one of the more powerful ways to grab attention as a teenager, but swearing constantly makes one a fool and removes the power behind the statement. I think there's potential, but not to the aspect that I'll be changing my vocabulary any time soon. This very much is a careful balance.