Part One

Today is the day where I step calmly, coldly into the arms of my future and embrace it with all my might. Today is the day where I forgive my past and move along. But this is where I am now. This is not who I am. Who I am is a mystery which we leave for another time. Let us first see how it is that I came to be here.

My father left, which was probably for the better. My mother didn't like him all that much not that she would let me know. I was smart enough to understand. I was always smart you see, ahead of myself just like I am now. Back to the issue at hand. Shortly after my father left my mother was diagnosed with cancer, the kind you don't really recover from. I lived with my grandmother a short while, but she too found it too troublesome to care for me and so I was placed in a foster home. That was when I was seven. Everyone just figure I wasn't old enough to understand, but they didn't see that I had a gift for understanding. I understood him you know, I sympathized with him, with them, but he made it hard. I am good at understanding people. But again I'm getting ahead of myself. Well, that is how I came to be here. That is why I am here again. I was an Orphan, we all were. But again I am getting too far ahead of myself. I am Jonas. I am Sparrow hear me sing.

Today is the day where I step calmly, coldly into the arms of my future and embrace it with all my might. Today is the day where I forgive my past and move along. But this is where I am now. This is not who I am. Who I am is a mystery which we leave for another time. Let us first see how it is that I came to be here.

I live in the worst neighborhood in the city. Not because I can't move out, but because this is where I belong. These are my people. I could do better, but I have history in this place, a history that is not soon abandoned.My mother died during my birth and my father could not stand the sight of me. They told me that he loved me, but knew that I would be better cared for in other places, but I knew better. I've always been smart. They sent me to that orphanage, the one where they take the especially gifted children. I've always been out of place, everywhere I go, but not there and certainly not here. I was the eager kid in school early on, but I learned to perform quietly to keep the taunts from raining down. It was not that I had to, or that I wanted to, but it was such a test. I always loved a challenge never could say no to one of those. They were so few to me. Still I look for a challenge. Perhaps that is why I live here. Perhaps that is why I am where I am. I am Lorenz. I am Chaos hear me rain.

Today is the day where I step calmly, coldly into the arms of my future and embrace it with all my might. Today is the day where I forgive my past and move along. But this is where I am now. This is not who I am. Who I am is a mystery which we leave for another time. Let us first see how it is that I came to be here.

I was never all that intelligent, I was never all that elequent or however you spell that word. But I do know one thing. If you done been where I been then you know. My mom was a black panther, my father was a thug. He was shot when I was three years old. He'd just gone out to get ther morning paper. I was eating bacon and eggs in teh kitchen when it happens. The things I seen would make most kids cry. But my momma looked me straight in the eye that day and said to me, "Boy you don't cry. Cryin is for people who are weak. We are strong. Why are we strong? We are strong becuase we persevere. We make it through the thick and thin and most of all we never give in to our pain. Pain is just another thing preventing us from getting to where we're gonig." She was smart my momma I mean. They arrested her though. Said she blowed up a buildin or somethin like that. It don't matter. I done had my revenge. I worked hard for it too. I deserved it. I am Daryll. I am Lion hear me roar.

Today is the day where I step calmly, coldly into the arms of my future and embrace it with all my might. Today is the day where I forgive my past and move along. But this is where I am now. This is not who I am. Who I am is a mystery which we leave for another time. Let us first see how it is that I came to be here.

Tell my story? Why should I. I am an orphan. I was born here. Well I might as well have been. I don't know the story of my father or my mother. To me they never existed. I guess you could say I was born with a chip on my shoulder. Don't get me wrong I'm like any other kid. I just like to go and get. I don't bother waiting around. If I see something I want, something I need I find a way to get it. How I ended up here? My parents left me at the door step. Who they were is really insignificant. I wanted to be here. Living amongst the celebrities and that is why I chose the path I did. Where am I? I am where I belong. Where I was meant to be. Who's to say I'm not, after all you don't know who my parents were. I am John. I am Jesus Hear me preach.

Misplaced Fortune

He wanted to remember everything about that moment. He wanted to feel the damp air hanging heavy on his shoulders trying with it all its might to bring him down. He wanted to see the darkness that was shed aside buy a street lamp that could only be described as antique. It gave off a faint yellow glow that cast enough light to illuminate just the two of them, well more him than her. Her delicate face, tears steadily working their way down her rosy cheeks, was shrouded in shadows. They hid her beauty. He almost stepped back so that he could see her one last time, but alas he was frozen in the moment. The rubber soles of his shoes seemed to have melted and fused themselves to the coarse gravel that surrounded him. He marveled at the strange substance holding him hostage as he leaned over her shoulder. His face slowly adjusted to the curve of her shoulder and his hands dug into her sides as he held her tighter than he had ever before. He willed his grip to keep her close to him. But that was not the way the world worked. The world gave no sympathy to people of his stature; no, it was always the well endowed that got the fortune, or perhaps it was that they were well endowed because they had fortune on their side. Where had he been when these transactions that so pointedly impact his existence were taking place? And now, the only debt he could pay would be paid with the salty rivers that flowed unchecked down his pallid face. He knew he had to remember this moment: the feel of her skin, and the warmth that surrounded him despite the light, cool breeze that slowly dried his tears.

Are we there yet? Most Certainly Not...

You drive down Pacific Coast Highway the top down the wind blowing through your hair. As you proceed skillfully through the empty streets you look over to your left. Instantly the stresses of the week melt away and as your mind comes to peace as you stare blankly at the aptly named Pacific Ocean. Your mind drifts back to the task at hand: driving. You quickly let off that gas pedal noticing your speed spiking. In this day and age you have to save every penny for gas.

As the price of oil increases at an astonishing rate and gas prices rise almost daily the US Senate has renewed the debate over off shore drilling, especially on the coast of California. I am an Irvine resident and I am an undergraduate at the University of California San Diego. As a college student I make just enough to pay for the fuel cost of shuttling back and forth and that is because my aunt has generously allowed me to reside at her place. As a “poor college student,” I am as ailed by the rising gas prices as others are, but still we must think of the future and amend the present to maximize what we have for the future. I know that I might not have facts like those arguing the other side does, but I do know one thing I plan on spending the rest of my life in California and the California coast has given so much too me and I will make sure it does the same for my children.

Image the scene of serenity that now offers you escape riddled with the ugliness of oil rigs the air that we try so hard to purify tainted by the increase in fuel usage. Perhaps this rise in the price of gasoline has come at an apt time. Perhaps it is nature’s way of telling us that it is time to reform our ways, time for us to trade in the Hummer that sits idly in our garage used for a more economical Prius, time for us to forgo the car when making a two mile trip the grocery store in favor of a bike (or a wagon if we have a heavier load). Perhaps it is not that we need to search for more oil to alleviate the needs of our citizens, but a means to create for them a better future. The way to create a better future is to act now. Every moment we stand idly by at the whims of oil politics we are losing a war. This is not a war fought with weapons, or economics, or any other means. This is a war fought with our own need to drive 140 miles per hour in the newest Porche Model, to have the convenience of driving to the grocery store, to project the image of wealth that the Hummer brings. You see, it is not our dependency on oil that is the issue, it is our dependency on our status symbols, our Porche’s, Hummers and other gas guzzling cars.

Now picture the same scene, your child sits next to you as you drive down PCH. Ask yourself, what do you want them to see?

People who do certain things are totally retarded. Honestly. Me and my friend just decided to play a 20 chip tournament.

Here are the rules we used:

1. Go all in if you have pocket pair or a face card other than a J and your cards don't overlap with each other.
2. Raise 500 if you have suited cards.
3. Fold all other hands unless they are free.

The result of this experiment. I got 1st thanks to some luck in the latter goings and he got second. Are people seriously that stupid? Honestly what is this world coming to...someone had to notice that we were going all in every time we had a face card...wtf...

and by request here's an addendum to this blog a rant from our very own Albert:

write about how nasa's really excited about finding water on mars

but WHO THE FUCK CARES?

Pruthul: haha

Albert: who cares if there's water on mars

yes, there might be life on mars

what kkind of life?

little shit-eating bacteria?

i ask again

who the fuck cares

the conditions we survive in and the conditions shit-eating bacteria survive in

are completely different

Albert: it has absolutely no bearing on anything that is relevant to anything

as i was saying

Albert: honestly

wtf

we should cut funding for nasa

Pruthul: HAHA

Albert: strip all these fucking research shuttles

Pruthul: well

Albert: sell the parts

and use it to pay off the budget deficit

Pruthul: water oon mars means that it could have at some point sustained life

but it doesn't really matter

Albert: there's gotta be a shitload of cash tied up in there, right?

exactly!

i ask again

what will life on mars in the past

do for me now

NOTHING

what will it do for me in the future?

NOTHING