Save the cheerleader, save the world

Everyone wants to be a hero; we all want to save the day. You fantasize about it after every action movie you watch. Plastering your face upon the protagonist in one of the over sensationalized situations, and then mimicking the actions of the flavor-of-the-moment actor whom happens to be playing the role.

Life isn’t a movie; the fictional characters of the screen are simply that, fiction, along with their actions. They are an extreme, risking everything selflessly within outlandish circumstances. They have become the image of the hero, monopolizing the definition. But the word hero encompasses so much more.

Heroes come in all shapes and forms; they are a son, a daughter, a stranger. They are everyday people just like you and me, except when they were put in a situation they went above and beyond.

People are heroes for various different reasons, many of which are not as glorified as Hollywood would portray them, (eg: defusing a bomb underwater whilst surrounded by man eating sharks and a clown who won’t stop bouncing from side to side (its in the next Spiderman I swear :p)). And just because their actions aren’t as showy doesn’t diminish their heroic status.

Sometimes heroes are not seen for what they truly are, special, unique. Sometimes standing out of the crowd isn’t seen, at the time, as heroic simply because of society’s conformist mentality; to step away from the group, to question the unquestioned.

So this is a message to the unsung everyday heroes of the world, even if recognition or gratitude isn’t shown, thank you. Thank you for doing what we could not, for what needed to be done.

A knight does not always wear armor.

Till next we meet,
Paul

Empty Pockets

$110,000. That is approximately what my brain is worth upon the conclusion of my education. At that kind of expense you think you would at least get a mug or something… I’d get it insured but the excess isn’t worth it.

In the not too distant future I’m going to wake up one day 40 grand indebt without a cent to my name, and I’m supposed to be excited about this. It’s a bit of a daunting figure to conceive, especially when all I’ll have to show for it is two pieces of paper. All I have to say is it better be some dam good paper, especially considering Kmart is selling 500 sheet sets for $4.99.

I hate debt, it’s such a downer. Far too many people get out of control and attempt to live beyond their means. Either living paycheck to paycheck or horrifyingly paying one card off with another. This is why I promised myself I would never get a credit card. Not that I don’t trust myself, I simply wanted to stay away from temptation. But apparently this is not an option; I need to get a credit card, if only to establish a credit history.

I’m not bad with money, and tend to think I’m alright at saving. But I’m afraid my habits may change if I succumb to the incessant amount of preapproved credit card applications I receive. I don’t want to have to go on one of Oprah's debt diets if I suddenly become obsessed. My brother is horrible with his card; it should be taken away from him! Even though he can’t handle the repayments he continues to purchase (eBay and credit cards do not mix. Can you say his addiction is an affliction? No? Well then try it without that piece of metal in your mouth). My mother is constantly paying his bills much to my father’s aggravation, and yet somehow my brother has the money for a spare of the moment trip to Canada…

I have decided to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. My credit history shall have to wait, probably until that aforementioned fateful morning…

To charge, or not to charge? And Shakespeare thought he had it bad…

Till next we meet,
Paul

Swimming upstream

Do you ever feel like your swimming against the current, like the tide is constantly knocking you back, away from solid ground? And no matter how much you fight, you're never completely in control?

I feel that life is a constant struggle, where nothing ever comes easily. We are forced into this battle if only to stay afloat, being persistently tested by the unforgiving sea that is our circumstances.

It is relentless, cold and harsh. Indiscriminate to all. And so we fight on. We keep pushing against this force that shall never subside. Simply because we know what will become of us if we falter, if we fail, if only for a moment.

In the end the current always wins.

Till next we meet,
Paul

iDiot

(What a great site http://foryourentertainment.blogspot.com/)

The List

Silly me tried to take on the world, and am slowly getting bored with what it is throwing back at me. Not all that long ago i started an endeavour, i say endeavour because it has been a personal trial of sorts. The task, to read the 100 books that adorn my list entitled 'The 100 greats before you die'. Now i have tried! Truly i have but this is starting to get ridiculous, i think i have taken on more than i can handle. A set list does not work. I have found myself going out of my way to read books that are not featured and therefore undermining the whole of point of the set list!

In the past two months i have read:
- The metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
- Swans way by Marcel Proust
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- Who's afraid of Virgina Woolf by Edward Albee
- The sound and the fury by William Faulkner
- The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald
- Cell by Stephen King
- The old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway
- Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
- Malicious Intent by Kathryn Fox
- The Rainmaker by John Grisham
(And have just started Elbow Room by James Alan)

Ive finally figured out why the list is so named. Because once begun it shall slowly kill the participant, or at least remove their desire to live :)

I am currently adding to my list, i'm going to remove some that i don't care to try and replace them with others. If you have a valid suggestion it would be greatly appreciated.

Till next we meet,
Paul

Revelation 1

- And he shall burn for all of time, knowing not what he should know

Why has no one ever told me that sunscreen expires! Looking back upon the multitude of times where I was burnt simply because the protective lotion I applied was deemed ineffective could almost make me cry… Almost…

Logically it never occurred to me that sunscreen would have a ‘best before’ let along an expiration date, and as a consequence of this absence of information I have burnt and peeled unnecessarily. I blame the media, its purpose is to inform the masses, hence I believe this is a gross oversight on their behalf.

I am unfortunately not one of the lucky ones, born with perfect healthy looking tanned skin. I am what I would refer to as a ‘pasty person’, a condition that my parents felt the need to tell me when I was five. This of course completely ruined my ambitions of becoming the first black woman president. We all have obstacles, mine just happen to be quite large.

I wouldn’t feel sorry for me too quickly, I mean my condition is severe, but I’m not quite english just yet. Although sometimes I do wonder…

I have tried to brown on a few occasions. Of course they were completely in vain, but the point of this story is I have tried. No matter my efforts the result turns out the same, me lying on my back not moving for a good week just to recover.

Burning no longer on the agenda

Till next we meet,
Paul

A plight to fight

Boredom has set in, and now look what i am reduced to.

Today i was searching for oxymoron's, don't ask me why, perhaps it’s just because i seem to like the word. And have decided, even though i was once enthralled by the notion (the brief period between typing it into google and pressing enter), the concept of them has become mundane at best. The top listing, which although slightly amusing 'Microsoft Works', fell far short of interesting and has left me border than before i began my quest.

So my search continues. I have an unquenchable thirst to be entertained with no medium in which to derive it. If a kind reader happens across this post, I ask that they take pity on me and help me in my plight.

Ow for those who like the TV show 'The OC' i found this entertaining: click here

Till next we meet,
Paul

Global Warming

For those of the nonbelievers proof is finally here:



(http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/global_warming.jpg)