Topical Essay For School

I like sharing what I write, mainly because I like to hear what people think, no matter if it's good or bad. This past week I had to write another topical essay for my English class, and I present it to you to read. Hope you enjoy it, and if you don't, then still leave a comment of your own opinion on what you think I could improve on.

I know first hand the struggles that Elizabeth Wong wrote of in her essay  “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl”. For me, it was the smell of the locker room still gets to me. Sweat, grass and mud, mixed with dirty laundry, and covered with what seemed like an atom bomb of about 18 different colognes from the teammates trying to cover their stench up after a game, it still gets to me. FOOTBALL CAN HAVE ITS GREAT MOMENTS, BUT FOR A PLAYER LIKE ME WHO RODE THE BENCH, IT CAN BE A VERY LONG SEASON. 

Dad wanted me to play. I wanted to play. However, I never realized how much pain and work I’d have to throw into ‘playing’, which seemed ironic to me. You need work in order to be the ones that could play. After the excitement of the first few practices wore off, I started to get lazy about showing up on time. The coaches never took notice of my rep-work when I snaked my way through the line of wide receivers going out for a post pass, or a stop-and-go run. As much as Wong wanted to be in her Chinese language class was about as much as I wanted to be on the field when I realized no one was paying attention to me, yet paying attention their already star players. Even as Wong says “I had better things to learn than ideographs copied painstakingly in lines that ran right to left from the tip of a moc but”  (24), I felt like I had better things to be doing than running mindless plays, if I wasn’t going to be coached on catching the football wrong or stepping the wrong way.

As Wong states that she sat in a auditorium room with chairs and bad smelling Oriental odors and dreamed of ‘better’ countries and what they had to offer, I sat in a old and smoke filled room with my team mates and coaches watching films from previous games. I couldn’t stand the smell of the defensive coaches’ cigarettes. Waving his hand around in front of the projector screen, I worried he’d eventually burn a hole through it with as close as he got to it. He’d yell out a player’s name, and complain about things like a teammate dropping passes, or not tackling correctly. These guys were twice our age, and ten times more competitive than we were. I suppose that’s because they couldn’t play, and wanted to live through our own glory.

As I started my own season, I had to finish it, per an agreement made with my father. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t hate it all the way through as much as Wong hated her Chinese class and talking to locals in Chinatown.  As my own season ended in November, I rode the bench and got a handful of plays in when we would be up on an opponent by thirty plus points. Yet at the last game of the season, coach started me. He said that he watched me be patient and wait my turn, and decided that I deserved to play. Finally, I was someone who could be counted on for the team. 

Growing Up (From a Mother's Perspective)

She's gonna get mad at me for writing this, because I should be working on math (meh. I'm better at writing), but I was thinking about this topic this morning, and felt the need to type it out. A while back I wrote a post on "Son of Man" (link to post HERE ), and how it's crazy to think about growing up.

But the same concept goes for the mother of that Tarzan story. She has a really hard job. She has to raise the wild and hyper son. She has to feed his never ending pit of a stomach, make sure that he's not breaking a bone falling out of a tree. She has to worry about when he is out late, gets bad grades or in trouble with the neighbors. And then as he gets older, she has to pray with all she has that what she did for him in his short time under her wings somehow seeped into his thick (and possibly cracked) skull, and that he becomes a solid man. She then has to watch him walk away from her, into the world, and possibly even into the arms of another young woman he's in love with. I've realized lately that that has to be by far one of the hardest occupations on earth to do. Yet millions of women do it day in and out, and they love it. I will never totally understand why they will go through those 19, 20, 21 years of torture, but they do it.

I just have to thank my mom for everything she's put up with from me. I haven't been easy to raise. A quick bullet pointed example of this goes like this...

• Age 3 or 4: touched a lawn mower THREE consecutive times in one summer. Didn't learn it was actually HOT. 
• Age 4 or 5: climbed the entertainment center. Fell and left a massive goose egg on my head.
• Age 6 through about 10: Multiple bike ramps built. Multiple wrecks, and possible quarts of neosporin used.
• Age 13: Fell in a drained pool. Concussion. 
• Age 14-current: multiple near drownings from boogie boarding, and surfing.
• Age 15: Shot foot with 3200 PSI power washer. Pinky Toe in tact (barely)
• Age 17: dislocated and relocated knee cap from football. 
• Age 18: torn ligaments on ankle from jumping off trailer. 
• Age 19: bilateral hernia from years of sports and extreme stunts. 
• Age 19: Car accident. Hit by drunk driver. 

This is on top of bad attitudes, arguments at times over some of the stupidest things, and just disrespect at times just because. Now, I will say that this isn't like it all the time, but I'm writing to make a point that my mother has put up with a lot from me. I just want to thank her for doing such. 

I know it's hard for her right now. I'm starting to do my own life, while still being a part of the family. It's really weird to think that I'm kind of my own island, but still attached to the mainland, if that makes sense. But I'm doing my own college classes, working my own job, and having my own relationship with my girlfriend, that is developing towards a life-time commitment (as it rightfully should, if done right in the courting/dating phase). But she's still amazingly smiling through it all, and loving me just the same. For that, I love you mama. <3

Photos For Sale

Hey internet dwellers, I'm writing this post to let you know that yes, just like the rest of the world I'm trying to make money. For those interested or want to purchase photo scans of my photos (an ever expanding collection), I'd like to sell you prints of them. I'm still working out a more streamlined way of doing this, however for now, I have a link to my Facebook album, which you can choose from. How this will work is you can buy them through my pay pal account (link on the side of the page), and send me your contact info and we'll work out a profitable price. I'll get the photo printed in high quality of the size you wish, and send it to you, and you just pay through my pay pal account. For those interested in buying prints of the photos, e-mail me at mainstreetjake@yahoo.com, tweet at me (@mainstreetjake), or leave comments here on the blog. Thanks for any future purchases you may buy! 

Photo Link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1806156679639.105755.1411570782&type=3

Disney Stream App Idea

Sitting on the couch with this hernia I had a thought..why hasn't Disney invested in making an app that streams their tv shows and movies? Basically Disney netflix? Can you imagine the money they'd make off a $3.99 app that gave you access to not just the latest movies like TRON or Tangled, but also the classics like Herbie or Swiss family Robinson? I know Disney has contracted selected films to Netflix, but I think that they could not only do their movies, but also Disney junior shows and Disney channel shows. I think they're missing out on the streaming possibilities here right now. As far as I know and can see, streaming is going to eventually take over live TV. Which brings me to my second point. If streamed shows take over live tv, then why doesn't Apple take advantage of is? With the company that has more money than our own government, I believe that they should do the following as time goes on.. Buy out Netflix and redesign the movie/Tv show part of iTunes, still giving you the consumer access to buy shows and films, but also a monthly access plan to stream your shows you want to watch, or buy certain packages that give you show bundles. When they perfect the apple TV set, they'd probably release the stream tv versio at the time they release the Apple TV. Why else would they not, considering this would not just be mobile streaming, but also on a home tv set. The final question posed is "what about live events like the super bowl and MMA fights?" they'd be able to be purchased to stream in advanced in single views, or if you have a sports package that would already give you access to them. Same goes for concert series and festivals. All in all, I can definitely see either this, or a close form of this happening in the future. What are your thoughts on it? Feel free to tweet, Facebook, comment or e-mail me.

Hernia surgery

For those that Dont know, I had a bilateral inguinal hernia. Yesterday I had an outpatient surgery done to get it removed. Now as I type this, I lay propped up on the couch with a frozen bag of peas on me to ease the pain. To explain what happened, it goes something like this: a while back I realized I had a swelling in my right groin area, and I thought it was just a pulled muscle, because the next day it was gone. It recurred for a while, but neve thought anything of it because I live a fairly active lifestyle. Well about two to three weeks ago I REALLY pulled it. I brought it up to my dad and we got a doctor appointment set up. Turns out that I had a hernia and would need surgery to remove it. Flash forward to yesterday: it was scheduled for 12:45pm, and my family and girlfriend show up to support me with the surgery. I go back and get ready in one of those silly green gowns, IV hooked up, etc. last thing I remember was the nurse saying "dream of that cute girl of yours on the beach", and then I woke up in recovery. Apparently Ive had this hernia since I was a baby, but it became really bad as of lately. But it's removed now, and I have two scars below my belly button to show it. It hurts to move a lot, but I'll be right as rain in a few days. Hoping to be able to go to church Sunday. And thank you very much to everyone that sent well wishes and prayers my way. I really appreciate it.

What Color To Paint a FoamTard's Main Street?

Yesterday the lovely MiceChat twitter account got a photo of the repainted Blue Ribbon Bakery. 

It's not blue.

It's red. 

What I find funny is that Steve DeGaetano and Mr. Wiggins must be turning in their Disney bedsheets right now. 

See, whenever something like this happens, I laugh for a while. Back in the day when I was on MiceChat I tried to diffuse foamtards. Well, foamtard's fires can't be put out with foam retardant. If you want a fun read, check the link: HERE

Basically what I'm getting at here is that I think it's funny people got so bent on changing paint on an area of the park that isn't even CLOSE to what Marceline Missouri looks like. Heck, even the City Hall building on Main Street is designed after the Court House in COLORADO. It's just a park guys. That's it. 

Son Of Man

"Though there's no one there to guide you 

No one to take your hand

But with faith and understanding 

You will journey from boy to man " 

Tonight as I work on homework I had some old music on spotify playing. The ever classic Veggie Rocks album. If you're unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, check it out here: Veggie Rocks On Spotify. It's a great rock album of Veggie Tale songs from when I grew up as a kid. But as I think I'm rocking out in my own little world, my mom adds a status to her Facebook..

Well, it looks like my rock show extends past my bedroom door. Anyway, the post grew to 20-something comments between friends, and as it did, I thought back to the day when Disney's Tarzan came out. I was a hyper six year old with an addiction to anything X-Games related (same summer Tony Hawk landed the first 900 on a skateboard nine days after Tarzan was in theaters). As a kid, I was addicted to Tarzan. He was my hero of the Jungle. I wanted to surf trees like he did (tried and failed..), and even back then the music of Tarzan really got to me. It was this edgy, wild sound that I really thought was awesome, and little did I know at the time that a future favorite artist of mine did the soundtrack. Mom bought the soundtrack and after playing, and replaying the disc, I LOVED the song Son Of Man. It was "my" song. 

But now that I'm older, and can really understand the lyrics, it really has a lot of depth to my life. Especially the part of the song with "there's no one there to guide you, no one to take your hand". The past say, five to six months I've really realized that. I'm going from this: 

To this: 

It's crazy to think about a concept like this, but everyone grows up. I think it hits me a little hard (or so I think) because I'm such a big Disney fan, and a kid at heart. So seeing this on film as a favorite story of mine really resonates with me. I'm not a kid anymore. I don't have anyone holding my hand, and I need to take a vine and start to swing out to my own branch of the jungle now. Breaking that down to normal terms, I have to pay bills and taxes, I have my own responsibilities. I have a wonderful girlfriend who will someday be my wife. I have college and my future job. It's all so crazy and mind bending to think about, but at the same time, there's this calming peace to it all that makes me feel like it'll all be ok. In time things will transfer from being young Tarzan to adult Tarzan. It's just tough to transition at times. But it will work out. It always does. 

Photos From The Set: Freaky Deaky

This is a film I'm really excited to see this summer. It's not to the scale of Avengers, or Dark Knight Rises,  but Freaky Deaky is going to be a great summer film. The cast alone is going to be fun to watch together. From Crispin Glover to Andy Dick, I'm excited to see another Elmore Leonard film hit the silver screen, and especially since the film is made by my friend, Charlie Matthau. If you don't know about the film, it's set in 1974 with a group of 60s radicals who take their ex-bomb squad skills to the streets of Los Angeles, filled with revenge.

Crispin Glover..just another day at work, right?

Even last summer when we first met at the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides premiere, we chatted a bit about the film, but much like any good director he didn't say much. I still don't know too much about the film, but from everything Charlie has told me, it's going to be really wonderful to watch. 

Light one up for me?

Never Grow Up

Last night I went and saw John Carter with the family. I wasn't totally sold on it through the first hour of the film, but there's reason for that. As the film progressed I really started to enjoy it and get into it. The only reason I say I wasn't sold on it at first is because it's set up as the first story. It tries to explain all of Barsoom and the Tharks, etc. in a long set up. This isn't necessarily bad, and looking back at it, I really regret thinking it was too slow. I've just gotten accustomed to having film A.D.D, and being thrown into a film with the visual/narrative style of 'here it is, now you watch this and go with it' (Think Transformers).

The film does have a decent set up of humor, and the action is really just pure fun. Watching John Carter try to walk on Barsoom was entertaining, and the fight scene in the arena was really awesome (albeit felt like I was back to Star Wars Ep. 2). Overall it's a really fun film that kids will like. Even the kid behind me got into it to the point where it was a serious scene after a fight, and John Carter's laying there underneath dead bodies, and the entire audience is quiet. This kid behind me unknowingly said in a loud tone "IS HE DEAD DAD?!" Had my entire family laughing at how adorable it was that his innocent mind was so wrapped up in the film. I think if a film does that for the kid, then they've done a good job.

Which brings me to a different point. The other night I was working on my lego room, and listening to Disney music on Pandora. I was getting in the mindset of being eight years old again, and I couldn't help but think about how amazing it was to be a kid. Hardly any responsibilities and all you had to worry about was if you got caught with the cooties or if your friend didn't like you. Otherwise you played with your toys and watched cartoons. I think I've struggled with that lately because I've been growing up more and more. Its obviously a part of life, but it's hard when you have such an affinity for the child-like nature of things. I wish I could maintain innocence more than the world allows. But I think the way to still maintain a lot of that is to try to maintain it for the kids younger than me. That's why I have a lego room and Nerf guns at my place. When my cousins and family friend's kids come over, I want them to be able to have toys that will let their minds escape to places like Barsoom, or the Jungles of Africa, or the midwest with cowboys, downtown with cops and robbers, etc. The imagination is something that I think is missing more than ever with kids today, simply because the stories they're being told are on tablets and games that limit the creativity to add to the stories. As a kid, I never wanted to get the movie video game. I always wanted the lego sets or construction sets to make my own stories from movies and characters. I really wish there was more of that today. 

Memory Lane

Sitting at my desk tonight going through old photos right now. Dating back from when I was a kid. Like, 3,4,5 years old. Seeing not just myself, but everyone else in the photos is such a trip to think about how time changes things. If you've been reading my blog lately, you'll probably notice that this is somewhat of a recurring topic with my posts, just in different aspects.

I just think it's crazy right now. Right now I feel as if I'm in the biggest transitional phase of my life. It's not a bad thing, but it can definitely be hard to cope with at times. Looking at these photos tonight make me think about a lot of things. Mainly about how I'm about the same age as my parents when they got married (Dad was a year older than me, but mom was my age). How cool it is to see my parents at a young age and madly in love (as they still are). I think it's amazing to think about in comparison to myself because I have the girl I would love to marry someday, and I'm the same age as them (note, that's not a hint that I'm getting married soon. I'll blatantly blog that event on it's own when it happens).

It's crazy to see my grandparents and other family members and how they've progressed with time as well.  How things have drawn some people apart, and others closer.

I don't know really where the rest of this post was going...but I guess that's the end of my train of thought on this one for now. 

Post High School Facebook

I think as a kid my age, living in this time is one of the oddest times to grow up. Don't get me wrong, I think there's a lot of times in the past that have been 'hard' or 'difficult' on teens. But with the time that I'm growing up in, it seems like it's one of the harder times. The reason I think that is because we have a lot of pressure from not just a few areas, but in nearly every area. We have the pressure to have an awesome online presence. Pressure to dress cool and act cooler. Pressure to do well academically/musically/athletically. Pressure to have a physically rocking body. It's all a giant setup of spinning plates, with an inevitable toppled plate every so often.

Tonight I deleted a lot of people off facebook. That site is very interesting anymore. When Mark Zuckerberg first created it, I don't think he realized how much he'd change human emotions towards knowing what people are doing, who is friends with who, and actually having physical references (Friends List) to back it up. I'm one of those people that doesn't care if you get mad at me over deleting you off the site. I guess because I look at it as just that: A site. It's nothing more than a screen with typed updates from people you WANT to know about, just as if they were really saying it (for the most part). I'm tired of 400+ people knowing what I'm up to. I'm cutting it down to who I really want to see my posts and photos, and even then, people are being sifted into lists of who I want what shared with.

As I've grown up with this site, I've learned that I don't care about my social status online. I can stand with my head held high and be above the socialites class of "who's friends with who". I don't need to be buddies with people just to make me look cool or feel popular. I'm having my tight knit group of Facebook Friends and not just any joe I met through a friend at another friend's Christmas Party.

Anyways, to finish this up, My facebook is going to be reserved for the elite few that I want to share my life with. You want to know what else I'm up to? Read my blog and share it with others. The posts are more of my thoughts on topics, and not my personal life anyways...