The Present Travels of an Imperfect Mind

Appreciation

2009-02-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

What if you have everything you ever wanted? Well, at least emotionally, not materialistically. Where do you go from there? Or what if your not the one who has it all, but you feel too overbearing with something you never even wanted in the first place? It's hard to understand how positions change, or how people change. It seems that in some cases partners switch roles and characters change. My problem is that I have problems controlling my impulses, and so everything I've ever thought has come out of my mouth. Sometimes i think it's a little too much but you cannot take back the words you've spoken.
But when this person has everything they want, the girl of their dreams, when does it become too much? When does "I love you" stop meaning "I love you" but instead meaning nothing but three words that two people exchange? When does saying I love you all the time start to become patronizing? Saying it just because if you don't the other might be offended, but rarely saying it because you mean it. I love you has become a replacement for "you're so funny" or "Nice comeback", among other things. But it seems in a lot of relationships, the phrase i love you is thrown around until it looses any meaning when it actually is meant, and i believe that this actually tears apart a lot of couples because they lose all sense of the actual feeling of breathlessness when someone says they love you. In my mind, every time someone says "I love you", you should feel like it's the first time you've heard it from them. It keeps the relationship alive by keeping the sense of fresh love in tact.
Saying I love you is cute, and yeah makes you feel happy, but sometimes when i'm expected to say it, i just don't feel like saying it. It's not because I don't love him, i just can't explain it, but i just don't feel like saying i love you, but i do and it feels forced and it puts me in a bad mood.
And then there are those times when i really want him to know i love him, but it feels like just another "i love you" in passing, meaningless and just a phrase the world is taking for granted. No one appreciates the true meaning of the phrase anymore, and the feeling that "I love you" brings with it is taken for granted, people don't understand how that feeling ties two people together, bonds them together, when people are in love, and you are an outsider looking in, you can tell they are in love by their body language, there is no need for any "I love you"'s in a situation where the sexual or romantic tension is high. It just isn't necessary, actions and looks should be enough for the other to feel loved without wasting the actual words. Save "I love you" for when someone is feeling down and needs to hear it, or for when you're saying goodbye to a lover who is going away for a while, there is no need to say it every night, it should be implied that the person loves you if they are calling just to hear your voice. But alas, it is hard to express the actual feeling of love in words, so i love you" may not even be enough in the end.

Come Together? Or Fall Apart?

2009-01-31T18:54:00.000-08:00

Over the summer I had lost something that I didn't know I would miss as much as I did. At first i took the feeling to just be a feeling of guilt, or loneliness since my best friend would no longer be around everyday. But as the emotion got stronger and refused to go away, i realized something, that i had passed by possibly one of the greatest opportunities that life had to give; love. It brought me to question where the fine line between friend and lover was drawn, and if the line was maybe not a solid line at all, but a dashed line, in which feelings could easily slide through the openings. But then another thought occurred to me; maybe the initial line was solid at the beginning of a friendship, but then parts of the line were erased as the friendship got stronger, and that this is where the confusion starts. Friendly gestures such as rubbing a person's arm to comfort them can be taken to mean something entirely different where lines are thin or dashed. When good friends get as close as people can get without being in a relationship, is there even a line anymore, i mean, can two people ever really be as close as a married couple without being attracted to each other, either physically, emotionally, or sexually? It jut seems that in a lot of high school relationships, many hearts are broken when feelings of attraction to a close friend are not shared by the person who is being admired. But it would seem that when this happened to me, i just felt confused and couldn't get past being this person's friend until he left. As soon as he left for college, my feelings started to change, i couldn't stop thinking that i should have stayed with him and that i loved him. The first time i had those thoughts, i pushed them aside as absurd, telling myself that i was just missing him as a friend and that my guilt was overriding my true feelings, and that once i got used to him being at college the feelings would go away.
I went to California to visit my family, and found myself thinking about him every night. Not only was i utterly confused as to what i was feeling, but i began to think about how we had said goodbye, an awkward hug as i pushed him out the door. It occurred to me in the dark one night that i had been shooing him out the door not because i had to be somewhere but because i didn't want to say goodbye, that i couldn't accept his leaving. A month after being in California, I went on vacation with my best girl friend, to South Carolina. I thought that this trip would definitely help these feelings o subside. but to my horror, the feeling got more intense, and i found myself crying every night because suddenly understood what i had just lost. A best friend, someone who loved me unconditionally no matter what stupid, irrational things i did. Someone who listened to my every problem, every thought, every word, no matter what it was he was always on my side and now he was gone. How had this happened? When had my mind decided that he was no longer just my friend, but something more? When i came home from my trip, things just got worse. And then, after days of long conversations with him about what i was feeling, everything came together on September 8th, 2008. And we are together still. But things have not been smooth riding, there were some bumps along the way as i learned things i wish i hadn't, things that he wishes had never happened. But our past cannot be changed, so there is no use dwelling on it.
But i wonder still, first loves, how long can they last? It is painstaking to think that there could ever be another person in my life, or in his. But the truth? I honestly don't now what my future has in store, and quite frankly i'm so happy in the present, that i don't want to know. But still question haunts me, can a person as distracted as i am, who goes through almost 20 outfits a week, be satisfied with just one, utterly wonderful person, for the rest of her life? No matter how badly i want to, and believe that i will, there is still doubt that my mind wont stray, that one day we might want to explore. We are so young, not even halfway through our lives even! How can a person say for sure, at the age of 17, that she has found her soul mate? I believe that my relationship with this man is going to last forever, but i am still immature and inexperienced, so does that make my dreams childish? Should my curiosity be subdued when my temptation arises? I hate to think about these things, but one day they will be inevitable. All I know now, is that i have never been happier, and i want it to last as long as i breathe, i wouldn't change anything for the world. My gut tells me that we will one day be married, but my mind reminds me that i still have a long way to go before i get to the point where i'll be ready for marriage, there are many tadventures and experiences inbetween then and now just waiting for me to encounter, and i wants to take every chance i get, because the last time i let something slip away, i almost lost the most important thing in my life.

How Were Events During WWII the Most Influential Factors in the Popularity of Existentialism? (A revised version of HDTEDWW2ITIOE)

2008-06-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

“Existentialism developed in the face of absurdity: European wars and suffering during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries” (Wyatt). Existentialism is a very dark philosophy of thought. It is basically a philosophy of the meaninglessness of life, and questions topics such as authenticity, morality, and the freedom to be, for example. After World War II (WWII), many people bought into this idea of existentialism because of how terrifyingly atrocious the extent of the damage done during the war was. That there even was a World War II after The War to End All Wars, also known as World War I, was entirely shocking to people. It’s not hard to imagine why existentialism became so popular after the war, due to the horrors of events that occurred during the war. The deaths and the apparent lack of morality that surrounded such events as the Holocaust and the dropping of the Atom bombs were key factors in stimulating such existential thoughts as, questioning faith, the morality of man kind and life itself; mortality became a new and terrible world wide reality.

“The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them” (Long). A statement made by Harry S. Truman in a letter to a Mr. Cavert, in which he talks about the Japanese refusing to surrender unconditionally to the demands of the U.S., and that they only way to get them to do so, was to bomb them. Thousands of innocent people died the day the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The U.S. wanted an unconditional surrender, but when they were instead given defiance, Truman decided that “When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast” (Long). In the same letter, as quoted above, Truman stated that Japan had to be controlled. But was it right to go ahead and cause massive destruction and death to civilians in Japan, because that country bombed one of our military bases at Pearl Harbor? According to a rule of aerial warfare from The Hague, it wasn’t. Article XXIII states that “Aerial bombardment for the purpose of enforcing compliance with requisitions in kind or payment of contributions in money is prohibited” (Dannen). This means that if a country does not abide to a request made by another country, the country whose demands have not been met, is not allowed to bomb the other country in order to get them to cooperate. The U.S. bombing of Japan broke this rule of aerial warfare. The reasons Truman gave for bombing Japan were to one, scare Japan into surrendering and to two, end the war in favor of the U.S. Civilians should not have to have died or had their homes destroyed because the U.S. had a $2 million bomb burning a hole in its pocket. Instead of holding a meeting with Japan in order to come to some sort of compromise and form a new set of demands that Japan might agree to, Truman decided to drop a bomb of devastation in order to end the war sooner and “spare lives”. After the thousands of people that were killed in that one moment, human mortality came as a shock to many people, the fact that an individual could die or be killed at any given time struck many people by surprise.

How can the dropping the atomic bomb be justified? It can’t, because Hiroshima was the selected target purely because Tokyo had already been almost completely destroyed, and Hiroshima had yet to be touched. Article XXIV states, “In the immediate neighborhood of the operations of land forces, the bombardment of cities, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings is legitimate provided that there exists a reasonable presumption that the military concentration is sufficiently important to justify such bombardment, having regard to the danger thus posed to the civilian population” (Dannen). There was no “military concentration” in Hiroshima, just civilians. They had no idea the fate that was in store for them the day the U.S. dropped the bomb. People were burned alive, disintegrated on the spot from the force of the heat; ashen outlines, of what used to be flesh and bone, were left imprinted on buildings and on the ground. Buildings, cars, houses, churches, museums, schools, everything collapsed or were tossed about, often with people inside them. Not only were the people who experienced this event first hand affected, generations to come were affected by the aftermath. Besides the fact that many people lost their friends, families, and homes, Japan was also contaminated by smoke, ash, radiation and debris left in the wake of the destructive explosion. People got sick from the water because it was polluted, and the air was toxic in most areas because of radiation. A whole city was destroyed, just like that. How can this even be compared to what happened at Pearl Harbor? They sunk our battleships, so we sunk their city: an eye for an eye.

A second bomb was then dropped on Nagasaki only three days after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Japan still hadn’t surrendered. Truman decided that he was going to treat them, not as human beings, but as beasts. Just like back in the U.S. where many Japanese-Americans were imprisoned, like animals, in concentration camps. This act made the United States to the Japanese-Americans in America, what Germany was to the Jews during the Holocaust. Truman said in a letter to an advisor, “I know that Japan is a terribly cruel and uncivilized nation in warfare but I can’t bring myself to believe that because they are beasts, we should ourselves act in the same manner” (Long). Yet he allowed the Japanese people to suffer at the hands of yet another U.S. bomb. We should not act as beasts? We are beasts; in making this statement, Truman made himself a hypocrite. What resulted from the dropping of these two bombs was an act of beasts if ever there was one. The U.S. knew what the atom bomb was capable of doing; everyone saw what havoc it wreaked upon Hiroshima. As if the first bomb wasn’t devastatingly horrific enough. People were in a sense mesmerized and entranced by the catastrophic ruins and by how many people were dying on a daily basis. The aftermath of the bombs that were dropped, the homes that were destroyed, the lives and the families that were torn apart, jolted everyone into the reality that they themselves could die at any moment. To think that any one person could do something so monstrous made people question the goodness of mankind in general. People began to turn away from God because they wondered, “how could He let this happen?” As a result of this almost literal “fall from faith”, atheism started to become increasingly popular. Without God as their guidance, people began to feel lost, and that they were utterly alone in a world that, at the time, seemed to be coming to an end.

Some people might argue that the war did actually end sooner, thus saving the lives of numerous others. Sure the bombs ended the war, but who did it save? American soldiers, not that they deserved to die, but look who died instead; Japanese civilians; children, women and men who weren’t even enlisted in the army. And what about the buildings that were important to people, like churches and schools, and their homes? Article XXV rules of aerial warfare states that, “In bombardment by aircraft, all necessary steps must be taken by the commander to spare as far as possible buildings dedicated to public worship, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospital ships, hospitals and other places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided such buildings, objects, or places are not at the time used for military purposes. Such buildings, objects, and places must by day be indicated by marks visible to aircraft. The use of marks to indicate other buildings, objects, or places than those specified above is to be deemed an act of perfidy. The marks used as aforesaid shall be in the case of buildings protected under the Geneva Convention the red cross on a white background, and in the case of other protected buildings a large rectangular panel divided diagonally into two pointed triangular portions, one black and the other white” (Dannen). The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had no time to mark these buildings, and even if they had, this bomb would have destroyed them anyway. Nothing was spared. Anything within a 6-10 mile radius of where the bomb went off could be destroyed. Anything within a 1-5 mile radius was destroyed. The fact that this event even occurred completely terrified people, the number of deaths and the mass chaos of the destruction created only added to the initial terror. Another whole city was completely wiped out. The immorality of the event appalled people and even shamed them; to think that the human race was even capable of committing such an atrocity, essentially mass murder. The shock of it all influenced people to marvel at the fact that they themselves could die or be killed at any given moment. People also began to wonder about the power of one person. Was it right that one person decided that fate of thousands in another country? It was after all the president who gave the ok to drop these bombs. Not just one bomb, two bombs, of the same devastating affect, without hesitation. An eye for an eye left the whole world blind.

The Holocaust, another major heart stopping event of WWII, was the “biggest orgy of killing” (Kimel) in world history. The Germans exterminated around 11.5 million people. The population of Jews in Europe went from around 9 million before the war, to about 3 million after. The word “holocaust” actually means “sacrifice by fire” in Greek (Kimel), which is exactly what happened to many, many people. Before WWII, France prided itself in being a major power in Europe. Some think that France’s demand that Germany be severely punished after WWI allowed Hitler to come to power because of the instability that the Treaty of Versailles caused in Germany. “The Treaty of Versailles placed an unreasonable stress upon the German economy and newly-formed democracy” (Wyatt), thus leading to Hitler’s reign. Hitler’s rise to power was the obvious cause of the Holocaust, but a theory about why the Holocaust even happened was that, while Hitler was extraordinarily intelligent, he was a very sick man. He came to power by taking advantage of the depression in Germany, and convincing everyone that they should blame the Jews (a lot of who were bankers at the time) for Germany’s economic problems. But Hitler was not mentally all there. It is thought that he had General Paresis. Hitler displayed certain symptoms of this disease such as delusions, like proclaiming to be the greatest military genius of all time, and paranoia to such “states that approach persecution mania and dual personality” (Kimel). He also was a megalomaniac, which is an extreme over evaluation of oneself. He also favored and even admired the use of terror, brutality and violence. It has been suggested that these problems of his were what led him to create the mass genocide, the “Final Solution,” to cleanse Germany, mainly, of Jews. He declared Jews to be a priority danger to Germany. As time progressed, Hitler grew more extreme in his cleansing of Germany. He started to target people, who didn’t behave according to the proclaimed social norms during that time, as well. People who were deemed to be outside of the social norms included people such as, Romas (Gypsies), homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled, Soviet prisoners of war, communists, socialists, trade unionists, Jehovah’s witnesses, and more. It was astounding that no one did anything about the torture and the murders for so long. Because of this, people were confused as to why help hadn’t come sooner to those who were imprisoned in the ghettos. What was even more staggering to people at the time, was the number of people murdered in such gross numbers each day. The racism of the German Aryans during that time went on for too long. How could every country just sit back and pretend that nothing was happening?

Finally late into 1944, the Allied forces began liberating the survivors of the concentration camps. The Holocaust left millions of people homeless, orphaned, and scarred for life. The things people saw, the things that were done to them in those camps were gruesome, and left people morbid, and without faith, and very aware that they could have died. Some felt they should have died instead of others, many wished they had died so they didn’t have to remember, and still many more did end up killing themselves.

Writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre were influenced by “the experiences and emotions of the French Resistance” (Wyatt) of German occupation. Present day texts such as “The Stranger”, by Camus and “Being and Nothingness”, by Sartre, were written as a result of the influence of the events, and the feelings those events provoked, during and after WWII. It is Sartre who is considered by many to be the “father” of existentialism. Sartre was himself captured by Nazi’s, and for almost a year was a prisoner of war. “Recognizing a connection between the principles of existentialism and the more practical concerns of social and political struggle, Sartre wrote not only philosophical treatises but also novels, stories, plays and political pamphlets” (UNC). Existentialism stresses the importance of the individual and the choices that individuals make. It also deals with the ludicrousness of human existence and that one can never have absolute certainty about anything. The cynicism that swallowed Europe in the 1940’s was mirrored by the sudden popularity of existentialism. Atheism was also highly promoted by many existentialists of the time. According to Sartre, without God, individuals constantly wrestle, alone, with the difficulty of making decisions in a world that has no certainty or traditional values. Chaos and disorder replace moral purpose and human existence is no longer under the guidance of a superior being. People are left to face their own existence without God, since He doesn’t exist. Thus, we find ourselves forlorn, and disheartened at realizing the purposelessness of life.

Such books and texts, as mentioned before, were so widely accepted because they were written to try and give reason to the rhyme of chaos going on in the world, but at the same time left readers to think about where they themselves fit in during that time. The books also tried to get people to think about what the meaning of life was, if there even was one. These texts would not have been written had it not been for the explosion of existential views that flourished in the hearts of many during and after WWII. The distraught brought about from all the deaths, murders and the flood of destruction, caused people to feel terribly helpless and alone, and influenced existential thoughts such as “what is right, and what is wrong?” and “how should I live my life?” and “what is the meaning of life, and why does this meaning, if there is one, matter if everything in life is pointless because I’m just going to die anyways?”.

One of the texts written during WWII was “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. In the book, the main character, Meursault, is a general representation of the existential views that were circulating during that time period. Meursault’s attitude in the book is that everything is meaningless and that life is pointless because you live only to eventually die. The only thing that to him is real, and worthwhile is what is physical, or physically appealing. Meursault is said to be immoral because of his lack of emotion throughout the book. In the beginning of the book Meursault’s mother dies and his reaction to the event is not what one would expect of someone who had just lost a loved one. He is rather annoyed at the inconvenience of the trip to the funeral and his tone is passive. And at the end of the book he feels no guilt for killing a man, only that everyone has a time to go and it was that man’s time to go. He is also an atheist and refuses to listen to a priest who wants him to believe in God so that he might have some mercy on him in the “afterlife”. People in the twentieth century were numb by the number of people that were dying everyday, that it must have seemed like people didn’t care when someone died because death was all around them, it just wasn’t a shock anymore. People were also turning away from religion and living without a higher power to guide them in life. Atheism was very popular in this time period leading many authors to write existential books and texts on what life means when we choose to accept that we are all alone in this vast world.

However other authors such, as Franz Kafka, wrote books, like “Metamorphosis”, that are arguably considered to be some of the best existential texts of all time. “Metamorphosis” is about a boy, Gregor, who turns into a giant bug. Gregor was the sole provider for his family before his transformation, and was valued only for the money he provided. As soon as Gregor became unfit to support his family, they shunned him and treated him as a burden. The story is like a one-way street, Gregor took care of his family, but when the tables turned, he got nothing in return. His family left his room in filth, and threw all their junk in his room. Throwing all their trash in Gregor’s room symbolizes that Gregor is not worth any more than the garbage in his room is. His feeling of isolation not only from his family, but from the rest of society as well, were commonly felt by people in the real world during the time of the book’s publication. World War I left people feeling scared, lonely and empty. People felt isolated from themselves, and from their friends, family and the rest of the world because of the shock of such a brutal war. The feeling of isolation from everyone, including oneself, is another major topic associated with existential philosophy. “Metamorphosis”, which was published in 1915, shows that existential thoughts were around before WWII even occurred. The events of WWII weren’t the only strong influential factors in influencing existential ideas and thoughts.

While World War I may indeed have had a strong influence in the rise of existentialism, it was not until WWII that people started to accept such beliefs, worldwide, so rapidly. The events of WWII took the lives of so many, and changed the minds, and outlooks on life, of many more. After the terrible acts of cruelty that mankind partook in, people were left to wonder how there could be any morality left in the human race. So many people turned their backs on religion because they couldn’t understand how God had let such atrocities happen. And mortality became shockingly real; death could be just around the bend. One could potentially die at any given moment. Never had such a series of events influenced the thoughts and feelings, of such a massive number of people, and so globally, as WWII did.

In the present day world, the U.S.A.’s “War on Terror”, doesn’t seem to be as shocking, or influential to peoples’ current thoughts and feelings, as was WWII. True the War on Iraq is not as vicious or as brutal as WWII, but still it is war and still people are dying on a daily basis. In general, American citizens’ lives don’t seem to be affected by the war in Iraq. There is no mass feeling of isolation or question of morality or faith. For people who haven’t lost a family member or friend in the war, life goes on with no philosophical interruptions. What defines the severity of war in the daily lives of those not directly involved? Could it be, that because existentialism has already been embedded in our culture through literature, that people today just aren’t as surprised and aghast by the events of the war going on overseas as they were 68 years ago?

The reality of death abruptly became a terrifying reality after the horrors of WWII caused people to question their faith, the goodness of mankind and life itself. “The shock of the war’s physical, economical, and psychological devastation was unparalleled” (UNC). Had it not been for these horrific and disturbing events that threw everyone’s sense of the world into a chaotic scramble of uncertainty, existentialism would not have become so popular, thus giving us some of our most timeless works of literature. And more importantly, causing people to question following a country’s leader into an inevitable “march to war”, which may have spurred the entire peace movement of the 60’s and 70’s. And yet there are still those who choose to deny that such events, as the Holocaust, even occurred; people like the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called the Holocaust a “myth” (CNN) in a speech given in 2005 to people in Zahedan. Even though between 1948 and 1951, over 700,000 Jews immigrated from Europe, and displaced persons camps, into Israel to seek refuge. It is sickening to think that there are people out there who are incredulous to the gruesome events of the war. Such travesties, as the dropping of the Atom bomb and the Holocaust, will forever be intertwined with the meaninglessness of life. But for most, the traumatic number of deaths caused permanent scars in the world’s present day culture. The worldwide feeling of helplessness, confusion and disbelief at what the human race was capable of doing, has been carved into each generation through the stories of those who survived.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• Existentialism in Context: How History Shapes Philosophy. C. S. Wyatt. 2008. The Existential Primer. May 23, 2008. http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/ex_history.html
• HIROSHIMA: Harry Truman’s Diary and Papers. Doug Long. July 25, 2005. Hiroshima: Was it Necessary? March 30, 2007.
http://www.doug-long.com/hst.htm
• Holocaust- What Happened? Alexander Kimel. March 2004. Middle East Observer. May 16, 2008.
http://Kimel.net/what.html
• International Law on the Bombing of Civilians. Gene Dannen. 1999. May 30, 2008.
http://www.dannen.com/decision/int-law.html
• Unknown. “Existentialism: Life after war”. Modern Europe Through Art. 2002: 3. March 25, 2008. http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/pedagogy/meta/mod5/cult_hist.pdf
• Zippori, Michal. “Iranian Leader: Holocaust is a ‘myth’.” CNN World News. December 14,2005: 1. March 31, 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.israel/

Blue

2008-06-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

And then one day you were the only one I wanted

But when I turned around I found myself already abandoned

So I said goodbye

And went searching for old fantasies to get lost in

Said hello to forgotten friends

And walked through the threshold door

And I never looked back

And I refused to look ahead

I just looked straight at what was present

Because your past is unchangeable

And your future’s not for sure

The only thing that matters is what you’re living for

How did the events during World War II influence the idea of existentialism? (HDTEDWW2ITIOE)

2008-05-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

“Existentialism developed in the face of absurdity: European wars and suffering during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries” (Wyatt). Existentialism is a very dark philosophy of thought. It is basically a philosophy of the meaninglessness of life, and questions topics such as authenticity, morality, and the freedom to be, for example. After World War II (WWII), many people bought into this idea of existentialism because of how terrifyingly atrocious the extent of the damage done during the war was. That there even was a World War II after The War to End All Wars, also known as World War I, was entirely shocking to people. It’s not hard to imagine why existentialism became so popular after the war, due to the horror of events that occurred during it. Such atrocities as the dropping of the Atom bomb and the Holocaust caused people to question faith, the morality of mankind and life itself; death became a new shockingly terrible reality.

“The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them” (Long). A statement made by Harry S. Truman in a letter to a Mr. Cavert, in which he talks about the Japanese refusing to surrender unconditionally to the demands of the U.S., and that they only way to get them to do so, was to bomb them. Thousands of innocent people died the day the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The U.S. wanted an unconditional surrender, but when they were instead given defiance, Truman decided that “When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast” (Long). In the same letter, as quoted above, Truman stated that Japan had to be controlled. But was it right to go ahead and cause massive destruction and death to civilians in Japan, because that country bombed one of our military bases at Pearl Harbor? According to a rule of aerial warfare from The Hague, it wasn’t. Article XXIII states that “Aerial bombardment for the purpose of enforcing compliance with requisitions in kind or payment of contributions in money is prohibited” (Dannen). This means that if a country does not abide to a request made by another country, the country whose demands have not been met, is not allowed to bomb the other country in order to get them to cooperate. The U.S. bombing of Japan broke this rule of aerial warfare. The reasons Truman gave for bombing Japan were to one, scare Japan into surrendering and to two, end the war in favor of the U.S. Civilians should not have to have died or had their homes destroyed because the U.S. had a $2 million bomb burning a hole in its pocket. Instead of holding a meeting with Japan in order to come to some sort of compromise and form a new set of demands that Japan might agree to, Truman decided to drop a bomb of devastation in order to end the war sooner and “spare lives”.

How can the dropping the atomic bomb be justified? It can’t, because Hiroshima was the selected target purely because Tokyo had already been almost completely destroyed, and Hiroshima had yet to be touched. Article XXIV states, “In the immediate neighborhood of the operations of land forces, the bombardment of cities, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings is legitimate provided that there exists a reasonable presumption that the military concentration is sufficiently important to justify such bombardment, having regard to the danger thus posed to the civilian population” (Dannen). There was no “military concentration” in Hiroshima, just civilians. They had no idea the fate that was in store for them the day the U.S. dropped the bomb. People were burned alive, disintegrated on the spot from the force of the heat; ashen outlines, of what used to be flesh and bone, were left imprinted on buildings and on the ground. Buildings, cars, houses, churches, museums, schools, everything collapsed or were tossed about, often with people inside them. Not only were the people who experienced this event first hand affected, generations to come were affected by the aftermath. Besides the fact that many people lost their friends, families, and homes, Japan was also contaminated by smoke, ash, radiation and debris left in the wake of the destructive explosion. People got sick from the water because it was polluted, and the air was toxic in most areas because of radiation. A whole city was destroyed, just like that. How can this even be compared to what happened at Pearl Harbor? They sunk our battleships, so we sunk their city: an eye for an eye.

A second bomb was then dropped on Nagasaki only three days after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Japan still hadn’t surrendered. Truman decided that he was going to treat them, not as human beings, but as beasts. Just like back in the U.S. where many Japanese-Americans were imprisoned, like animals, in concentration camps. This act made the United States to the Japanese-Americans in America, what Germany was to the Jews during the Holocaust. Truman said in a letter to an advisor, “I know that Japan is a terribly cruel and uncivilized nation in warfare but I can’t bring myself to believe that because they are beasts, we should ourselves act in the same manner” (Long). Yet he allowed the Japanese people to suffer at the hands of yet another U.S. bomb. We should not act as beasts? We are beasts; in making this statement, Truman made himself a hypocrite. What resulted from the dropping of these two bombs was an act of beasts if ever there was one. The U.S. knew what the atom bomb was capable of doing; everyone saw what havoc it wreaked upon Hiroshima. As if the first bomb wasn’t devastatingly horrific enough. People were in a sense mesmerized and entranced by the catastrophic ruins and by how many people were dying on a daily basis. The aftermath of the bombs that were dropped, the homes that were destroyed, the lives and the families that were torn apart, jolted everyone into the reality that they themselves could die at any moment. To think that any one person could do something so monstrous made people question the goodness of mankind in general. People began to turn away from God because they wondered, “how could He let this happen?” As a result of this almost literal “fall from faith”, atheism started to become increasingly popular. Without God as their guidance, people began to feel lost, and felt that they were utterly alone in a world that, at the time, seemed to be coming to an end.

Some people might argue that the war did actually end sooner, thus saving the lives of numerous others. Sure the bombs ended the war, but who did it save? American soldiers, not that they deserved to die, but look who died instead; Japanese civilians; children, women and men who weren’t even enlisted in the army. And what about the buildings that were important to people, like churches and schools, and their homes? Article XXV rules of aerial warfare states that, “In bombardment by aircraft, all necessary steps must be taken by the commander to spare as far as possible buildings dedicated to public worship, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospital ships, hospitals and other places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided such buildings, objects, or places are not at the time used for military purposes. Such buildings, objects, and places must by day be indicated by marks visible to aircraft. The use of marks to indicate other buildings, objects, or places than those specified above is to be deemed an act of perfidy. The marks used as aforesaid shall be in the case of buildings protected under the Geneva Convention the red cross on a white background, and in the case of other protected buildings a large rectangular panel divided diagonally into two pointed triangular portions, one black and the other white” (Dannen). The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had no time to mark these buildings, and even if they had, this bomb would have destroyed them anyway. Nothing was spared. Anything within a 6-10 mile radius of where the bomb went off could be destroyed. Anything within a 1-5 mile radius was destroyed. The fact that this event even occurred completely terrified people, the number of deaths and the mass chaos of the destruction created only added to the initial terror. A whole city was completely wiped out. The immorality of the event appalled people and even shamed them; to think that the human race was even capable of committing such an atrocity, essentially mass murder. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

The Holocaust, another major heart stopping event of WWII, was the “biggest orgy of killing” (Kimel) in world history. The Germans exterminated around 11.5 million people. The population of Jews in Europe went from around 9 million before the war, to about 3 million after. The word “holocaust” actually means “sacrifice by fire” in Greek (Kimel), which is exactly what happened to many, many people. Before WWII, France prided itself in being a major power in Europe. Some think that France’s demand that Germany be severely punished after WWI allowed Hitler to come to power because of the instability that the Treaty of Versailles caused in Germany. “The Treaty of Versailles placed an unreasonable stress upon the German economy and newly-formed democracy” (Wyatt), thus leading to Hitler’s reign. Hitler’s rise to power was the obvious cause of the Holocaust, but a theory about why the Holocaust even happened was that, while Hitler was extraordinarily intelligent, he was a very sick man. He came to power by taking advantage of the depression in Germany, and convincing everyone that they should blame the Jews (a lot of who were bankers at the time) for Germany’s economic problems. But Hitler was not mentally all there. It is thought that he had General Paresis. Hitler displayed certain symptoms of this disease such as delusions, like proclaiming to be the greatest military genius of all time, and paranoia to such “states that approach persecution mania and dual personality” (Kimel). He also was a megalomaniac, which is an extreme over evaluation of oneself. He also favored and even admired the use of terror, brutality and violence. It has been suggested that these problems of his were what led him to create the mass genocide, the “Final Solution,” to cleanse Germany, mainly, of Jews. He declared Jews to be a priority danger to Germany. He also went after people who didn’t behave according to the proclaimed social norms during that time, people such as; Romas (Gypsies), homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled, Soviet prisoners of war, communists, socialists, trade unionists, Jehovah’s witnesses, and more. “One result of the psychological devastation is the horrific number of suicides during this period…[including] Hitler and numerous other Nazi officials following the liberation of Germany and of the concentration camps”, almost five years after the Holocaust began in 1941. “In circumstances such as war…the immediacy of life and death become more profound” (UNC). The racism of the German Aryans during that time went on for too long. How could every country just sit back and pretend that nothing was happening? Finally late into 1945, the United States freed the survivors of the concentration camps. The Holocaust left millions of people homeless, orphaned, and scarred for life. The things people saw, the things that were done to them in those camps were gruesome, and left people morbid, and without faith, and very aware that they could have died. Some felt they should have died instead of others, and many wished they had died so they didn’t have to remember, and many ended up killing themselves.

But what happened during those four years? Where was the rest of the world? The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in a speech to thousands of people in Zahedan, in 2005, that the Holocaust was just “a myth” (CNN). He went on to say that if such a crime was committed why make Palestine, who is innocent, pay for it? Why not “give a piece of Europe, the United States, or Alaska to Israel?” (CNN). Most of the world leaders didn’t flat out deny the Holocaust, but ignoring it for four years, each country gave the impression that they felt this event was not their problem, and essentially chose to pretend it wasn’t happening. The fact that anyone could even suggest that this event never occurred, or was made up, is unbelievable. Between 1948 and 1951, almost 700,000 Jews immigrated from Europe and displaced persons camps, to Israel. If the event never happened, why did so many Jews seek refuge in Israel?

Present-day books and texts, like “The Stranger” and “The Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus, and “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, were all written as a result of the philosophical movement of Existentialism after WWII. Writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre were influenced by “the experiences and emotions of the French Resistance” (Wyatt) of German occupation. It is Sartre who is considered by many to be the “father” of existentialism. Sartre was himself captured by Nazi’s, and for almost a year was a prisoner of war. “Recognizing a connection between the principles of existentialism and the more practical concerns of social and political struggle, Sartre wrote not only philosophical treatises but also novels, stories, plays and political pamphlets” (UNC). Existentialism stresses the importance of the individual and the choices that individuals make. It also deals with the ludicrousness of human existence and that one can never have absolute certainty about anything. The cynicism that swallowed Europe in the 1940’s was mirrored by the sudden popularity of existentialism. Atheism was also highly promoted by many existentialists of the time. According to Sartre, without God, individuals constantly wrestle, alone, with the difficulty of making decisions in a world that has no certainty or traditional values. Chaos and disorder replace moral purpose and human existence is no longer under the guidance of a superior being. People are left to face their own existence without God, since He doesn’t exist. Thus, we find ourselves forlorn, and disheartened at realizing the purposelessness of life. The books, and other texts, mentioned above, would not have been written had it not been for the explosion of existential views that flourished in the hearts of many after WWII. The distraught brought about from all the deaths, murders and chaos of destruction caused people to feel terribly helpless and alone.

Today’s war, the “War on Terror”, doesn’t seem to be as shocking to people as WWII was. True it is not as vicious or as brutal as WWII, but still it is war and still people are dying on a daily basis. In general, American citizens’ lives don’t seem to be affected by the war in Iraq. There is no mass feeling of isolation or question of morality or faith. For people who haven’t lost a family member or friend in the war, life goes on with no philosophical interruptions. What defines the severity of war in the daily lives of those not directly involved? Could it be, that because existentialism has already been embedded in our culture through literature, that people today just aren’t as shocked and horrified, by the events of the war going on overseas, as they were 68 years ago?

The reality of death abruptly became a terrifying reality after the horrors of WWII caused people to question their faith, the goodness of mankind and life itself. “The shock of the war’s physical, economical, and psychological devastation was unparalleled” (UNC). Had it not been for these horrific and disturbing events that threw everyone’s sense of the world into a chaotic scramble of uncertainty, existentialism would not have become so popular, thus giving us some of our most timeless works of literature. And more importantly, causing people to question following a country’s leader into an inevitable “march to war”, which may have spurred the entire peace movement of the 60’s and 70’s. Such travesties, as the dropping of the Atom bomb and the Holocaust, will forever be intertwined with the meaninglessness of life. Such a dramatic number of deaths caused permanent scars in the world’s present day culture. The worldwide feeling of helplessness, confusion and disbelief at what the human race was capable of doing, has been carved into each generation through the stories of those who survived.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• Existentialism in Context: How History Shapes Philosophy. C. S. Wyatt. 2008. The Existential Primer. May 23, 2008. http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/ex_history.html
• HIROSHIMA: Harry Truman’s Diary and Papers. Doug Long. July 25, 2005. Hiroshima: Was it Necessary? March 30, 2007.
http://www.doug-long.com/hst.htm
• Holocaust- What Happened? Alexander Kimel. March 2004. Middle East Observer. May 16, 2008.
http://Kimel.net/what.html
• International Law on the Bombing of Civilians. Gene Dannen. 1999. May 30, 2008.
http://www.dannen.com/decision/int-law.html
• Unknown. “Existentialism: Life after war”. Modern Europe Through Art. 2002: 3. March 25, 2008. http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/pedagogy/meta/mod5/cult_hist.pdf
• Zippori, Michal. “Iranian Leader: Holocaust is a ‘myth’.” CNN World News. December 14,2005: 1. March 31, 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.israel/

A Dish Best Served H-O-T

2008-05-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

These are THE BEST freaking cookies I have EVER made, EVER. They are very time consuming though, so you may want to dedicate at least half a day to making them, aka don't start making them at 8 at night, on a school night none-the-less because you will be up until 3 or 4 in the morning. But they are totally worth it, I'm drooling just thinking about them. Anyways, here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy them as much as I, and my soccer mates did.

Ok so, this recipe makes around 48 small cookies, but be careful they are potently delicious!

Ingredients
~4oz. unsweetened chocolate
~2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
~1/3 cup butter
~1 cup sugar
~3 large eggs
~1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
~1/2 cup flour
~2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
~1/4 teaspoon baking powder
~1/4 teaspoon salt
~ powdered sugar, for dusting

How To Make Them

1. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt the unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup of the chocolate chips, vanilla, and butter together; stirring, until smooth.

2. Remove pan from heat; cool for 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together for 2 minutes with an electric mixer on medium speed.

4. Beat in the vanilla and chocolate mixture.

5. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; add to the chocolate mixture just until combined.

6. Stir in the remaining chocolate chips.

7. Cover dough and chill for at least 3 hours.

8. Remove about 1 cup of the dough from the refrigerator; with lightly floured hands, roll into 1" balls.

9. Place 2" apart on ungreased or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

10. Bake in a preheated 350*F for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly puffed and set.

11. Cool for 3-4 minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to a wire rack; cool completely.

12. Dust with powdered sugar.

13. EAT WARM!!! The cocolate inside will be all gooey and warm! It's like a multiple orgasm in your mouth.

Enjoy!

How Does Alcohol Effect the Teenage Brain?

2008-05-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

“Adolescents make a lot of decisions that the average 9 year-old would say was a dumb thing to do”
-Ronald E. Dhal. NYAS Mag. November 2003

Teenagers have been underage drinkers for decades. And while most people know that alcohol can alter behavior temporarily, research has also found that it can also cause permanent changes in the development of the brain for those who are below the ages of around 25-29. Learning and memory can be impaired much more easily in youth than in adults, even from moderate or short-term drinking. Alcohol disrupts the release of certain hormones that are needed for maturation and growth. Alcohol affects the teenage brain by altering and stunting certain aspects of its developmental process, thus causing teens to be more prone to behavioral problems.

The human brain develops until around a person’s mid-20’s. And according to Why21, during these early years in one’s life, there are three critical stages in the development of abstract thinking. The first stage begins at around the age of ten and continues until a person is about twenty. In this stage a person develops the ability to understand how and why things are opposites, and the ability to “combine dissimilar social interactions and emotions” in order to explain “social life” (Why21.org). The second stage is between the ages of fourteen and fifteen. In this stage, kids develop the ability to “understand how functions are alike and different, such as how addition and division are alike and different, and the ability to combine complex thinking with social interaction and emotions such as combining judgment with directness, kindness and tact and at the same time to offer constructive criticism” (Why21.org). The third stage begins when one is about eighteen and ends at around the age of twenty. This is the stage in which the ability to think about and retain information about multiple events, functions, and issues at the same time and to be able to compare and contrast them, occurs. Exposure, at any of or all of these stages, to substances, such as alcohol, that inhibit cell growth can severely alter the still developing brain, causing permanent damage.

According to studies, there are a couple of basic themes that occur in human adolescence. At a certain point, adolescents start to spend more time with their friends, and less time with their family. In order for a person to be in the running for a higher standing in the social hierarchy of society, or for a mate, or to even learn new skills, one must spend a lot of time with peers in order to form alliances and obtain the resources that are available to those who are successful in society. “One could look at sports and other competitive play behavior, parties and even just hanging out, as training or preparation for the social competition of adulthood” (Aaron M. White). However this increased time spent with friends, and away from parental influence leads teens to experiment on their own. They are more likely to participate in high-risk behaviors such as binge drinking, which skews ones sense of right and wrong, and could lead to unprotected sex, which could lead to an STI, or could lead to drunk driving and a fatal car accident. But risk taking and exploration are another of the basic changes adolescents go through. “The repertoire of skills that an individual needs to acquire during adolescence changes from generation to generation” (White). This means that in order for individuals to survive on their own in the real, adult world, they must adapt to their own generation and not that of their parents. In order to accomplish this, adolescents start to spend more time away from their parents and more time under the influence of their peers. But this means that the pressure to “be cool” and to fit in is higher, and teens often succumb to this peer pressure and do things, such as drink, just to fit in, and it often ends up becoming a habit. Adolescents that drink, more often than not, perform poorly in school and are at an increased risk of developing behavioral problems such as depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide and increased violent behavior.

Even a little bit of alcohol can go a long way, and can temporarily prevent the brain from producing new nerve cells, which is why people sometimes lose feeling or experience a tingling sensation, most often in their hands and/or feet, when they drink too much. The nerve cells are produced in the “progenitor stem cells in the forebrain that appear to be involve in brain development” (Katy Butler). In a study, the damage to the stem cells consistently increased after only two beers, and continued to increase until the brain completely shut down “the production of almost all new nerve cells” (Butler) after about ten beers. Alcohol has no specific receptor in the brain. It selects a receptor at random, and affects every individual differently. It also affects the same individual differently each time he or she drinks. “Alcohol chooses a receptor, combines with water molecules that form part of the receptors, and changes the shape of the receptor so it can enter, virtually at will. That also means it is altering the brain process, ‘at will’” (Why21.org). What that means is that alcohol affects different parts of the brain at random, it is unpredictable, and because it affects everyone differently it is impossible to say how a person will react to alcohol. Alcohol takes control of the brain’s neural functioning and essentially turns brain cells on and off at an abnormally rapid pace. Alcohol also “affects channels in the brain cell membranes that permit calcium and other chemicals to provide energy to electrically fire off messages to other cells” (Why21.org). Alcohol directly penetrates neurons by preventing the messages being received from getting decoded into instructions inside the cell. By combining with lipids, alcohol can temporarily change the cell’s structure, and can therefore change its function.

Over the last couple of years, studies have shown that due to cellular damage in the forebrain and hippocampus, students who abuse alcohol do not perform well on tests of verbal and nonverbal memory, attention focusing or on tests exercising spatial skills, “Like those required to read a map or assemble a precut bookcase” (Butler). Alcohol suppresses the activity of certain chemical receptors in the hippocampus, interrupting the formation of new memories, rather than disturbing the recollection of ones that are already stored. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that is involved in forming, storing and retrieving memories. Alcohol abuse during adolescence can lead to reduction in the volume of the hippocampus, often by approximately 10%. Usually the receptors in the hippocampus are triggered by the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate is the most common neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. It is highly important in the memory process. It is, however, toxic to neurons and an excess of glutamate will kill them. The glutamate that activates the receptors allows “calcium to enter neurons, setting off a cascade of changes that strengthen synapses, by helping to create repeated connections between cells, aiding in the efficient formation of new memories” (Butler). A study showed that after approximately two drinks, these receptors slowed in activity. And after three drinks, they were almost completely inactive.

Another neurotransmitter, gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), induces calmness and sleepiness. In a study using rats, it was shown that adolescent rats were less susceptible to alcohol-induced sedation than were adult rats. This means that the adolescents are more likely to be able to, and probably will, keep drinking long after their older companions have passed out. In a similar study, researchers believe that adolescents may also be less sensitive to alcohol’s affect on motor coordination; the ability to balance, i.e. the ability to walk a straight line without stumbling. In the study, the rat is place on a flat plane. The plane is raised at an angle until the subject begins to slip. In order to not slide, the subject requires coordinated motor activity. The subjects were assessed both sober and intoxicated. According to the data graph on the website, the adolescent rats were able to maintain their balance on the plane while intoxicated at a higher performance level than the adult rats. “Adolescent subjects were less impaired at both 10 and 30 minutes post injection”(White) of the 1.5 g/kg of alcohol.

More severely damaged by alcohol is the forebrain. The forebrain is the largest part of the brain. It is associated with cognitive functions such as the ability to concentrate, reason, control impulses and think in abstract form. “Alcohol creates disruption in parts of the brain essential for self control, motivation and goal setting” (Butler). Serotonin is a chemical found in the frontal region of the brain. Serotonin is a key factor that helps us learn and solve problems. It connects to cells in every part of the brain. The brain normally receives “gentle, rhythmic pulses of serotonin” (Why21.org). But alcohol lowers the level of serotonin in the brain. Teens act foolishly, out of character and to do dangerous and risky things, because their sense of too much or too little is skewed due to the lack of serotonin being produced in their brains. Teens are also more likely to participate in binge drinking, which is also known as chronic intermittent exposure (CIE). Discrete repeated withdrawal occurs as a result of CIE, and shows that teens are at an increased risk for neurobehavioral impairments. Repeated contact with alcohol during adolescence almost always leads to long-term impairment of cognitive abilities such as verbal learning and memory, as stated before. And while alcoholism has been more commonly thought of as a male disease, recent studies have found that women might be at a higher risk for developing brain damage then men. The study found that female mice were more prone to the neurotoxic affects of alcohol withdrawal, such as significant growth in the death of brain cells, than male mice. “What we found in males is that almost 50% of the (alcohol-regulated) genes are involved in the pathway for cleaning things up… The genes respond with removal of the damaged proteins. The females have all this apoptosis (cell death) going on, and the males instead may have repair going on” (ScienceDaily). This means that women could possibly be in more trouble than men when it comes to alcohol damage in the brain. It seems men have some kind of reparative gene that is triggered by alcohol, while women lack this. Teens are more susceptible to behavioral problems due to alcohol consumption because their brains are still developing, and alcohol disrupts the developmental process of the brain. Because of these developmental disruptions, adolescents are at a greater risk for hurting themselves or others due to lack of judgment, and are more likely to have poorer performance at school because of memory and verbal learning impairment. With even limited drinking and especially with abuse or binging, teenagers may develop long-term or even a permanent negative impact on their brain from the effects of alcohol.

Works Cited
• Butler, Katy. (2006, July4). The Grim Neurology of Teenage Drinking. The New York Times.
• Oregon Health & Science University. (2007). Females More Prone to Brain Damage from Alcohol Abuse. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070722232203.htm
• Unknown. (2007). Alcohol and the Teen Brain. Received May 8, 2008 from: http://why21.org/teen/
• White, Aaron M. (2004). Alcohol and the Adolescent Brain. Received May 16, 2008 from: http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Adolescence/adolescent.html

Hello World

2008-05-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

I am quite a mouthful of a person, even though most of my friends consider me pocket-sized. Most people, who know me well, say I'm an intense force of chatter and movement, just like Tigger, which is my nickname. I suppose my point of view isn't always mainstream and at times is questionable in terms of morals, but I always have my reasons for why I think what I do. I tend to pay attention to all the little things such as, why the heck are driveways called driveways? I mean you don't drive on them, you park on them. And then the parkways, you DRIVE on the parkways! Who comes up with this stuff? Anyways, I am passionately in love with soccer, and have been playing for the past 12 years of my life. I can't think of anything I'd rather do in my free time then play soccer, or run around aimlessly. But as a junior in high school, I often find myself inside on the most beautiful days, either in school, or at home doing homework. My junior year has been the most eye-opening, most eventful year of my life so far. Lots of first time experiences, and lots of drama that I would much rather didn't exist in my life in any shape or form. But all this is part of one big experience called Life, you learn from your mistakes and hope that in the end things will work out, because life shouldn't be about fighting and making up, it should be about expression of feelings between people and understanding between them. But alas, fights ensue due to the stupidity that is the teenage mind.

I guess I am a bit of a perfectionist, and get upset when something isn't exactly as I envisioned it. I've been known to obsess over the littlest details until they are just right. And I suppose that is one of the main reasons I decided to start my own blog. Two of my good friends have blogs, and it looked interesting to me, a chance to express myself and my ideas with other people. I love meeting new people, and just hanging out and chatting about whatever comes to mind. So I guess blogging is a way of meeting people, even if you never see them in person. I don't have a specific audience in mind for my blog, it's open to people who want to read about teenage life, the science of the brain, and maybe even a few short stories here and there. So enjoy the ramblings of my overactive imagination.