Hell

       As someone who identifies themselves as an atheist, I do not believe in a hell or heaven, I believe after we die, we stay in the ground, not get judged at the gates of heaven. But hypothetically if there really was a heaven and a hell, one would be the "best" place possibly in your reality, and hell would be the absolute worst. As many religious preaches will say, "You stay in hell" to "pay" for your misdeeds. My hell would be like Dante's hell, fire and pain. And for me, heaven would be a plethora of mountain bike trails as well as a new road a day to road bike on. A hell would be non-denominational, meaning that anyone religious or not can get into heaven or hell.

Hubris

Hubris has got in my way many times, just like many others. In terms of ego, who likes to apologize? Who likes to admit that they're wrong and take a hit to their egos? Not me. People all have an ego, and we like to protect it and buff it up by doing things that make us feel good about ourselves, just like donating to charity. Some do it because they actually want to help people, but some just do it to feel better about themselves.

But for a story about myself: Just like anyone with a little brother close in age (In my case 16 months apart) We had been arguing about who knows what. And it turned out he had been right, and it would have been more polite to have just said "Dude, I'm sorry" or something like that, but that never happened. While no real everlasting damage occurred between us, it is still something I should have said to finalize the disagreement and make him feel better

Fate

       I do not believe in fate, or complete free will for that matter, due to automatic brain umpulses, nerurons firing off. I don't believe in some entity watching over me, pushing me into a specific path or direction, or for that matter, something omnipotent that cares about me. As far as I know, no one sets a specific path for me, only me. I can adjust my life accordingly if something "good" or "bad" happens. Nor do I believe in the principal of karma. If I do something, it can change the course of my life and potentially others. But if I hurt someone or steal something, bad thing may or may not happen because of it. If something happened, it would be because of my actions and how they impacted the world.  I don't believe in luck or something like that. I believe the world just goes on, and things happen.
         Although, I do believe in the words of certain people as "gods" in society: Ram Daas, Timothy Leary, Jerry Garcia, and Jim Morrison, just to name a few. "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" as Timothy Leary famously said.

My advancements

    Throughout this year I have grown as a writer-at least in my opinion. My writing style can be very sloppy if I am not attempting good work. One example of creativity but possibly perceived as a lack of effort could be my story about bacon, pancake muffins "I want to make bacon-pancake muffins."Some may even say that this is brilliant, ground-breaking news, but some very unimaginative people would say that it is a stupid idea. Writing is purely objective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


       The worst writing I have done all year was when I didn't put much effort into my work, such as "I follow my bliss by mountain and road biking." Now, ordinarily this would be fine, but that was my entire response to the question "How do you follow your bliss?" There was no elaboration at all, just a mostly half-assed attempt at following the prompt. Out of my writing this year, this was the worst job I have done. I could further improve this by working to expand my thoughts of WHY I like those two sports, why they bring me joy. Look world, I didn't get the grade I wanted in my LA class for two reasons, at my best, I would say I'm a good writer, not phenomenal, but pretty good. So on our essays, I was lacking a few minor things here and there. But the other reason would be for some of our blog posts, I didn't go all in, I said it was "Good enough" And that's what killed me, that's why I didn't get the 'A' I wanted, instead, I got a B. Remember writers, being concise and being able to elaborate is key! Be witty in your writings. I may try setting timers to write for "x" amount of time, take a break, then go back in order to focus once more.

What inspires you to do anything you do? Well for me, it's going outside. Going on a hike, or going mountain or road biking. The state of Colorado is just so gorgeous that it is a wonderful place for a mind to brew new thoughts. I follow my bliss by doing things that not only inspire but keep me happy and fulfilled in life. Like I've said, bacon-pancake muffins would be an amazing idea! I just thought of it while on a mountain bike ride while hungry; Ideas can come from anywhere. While inspiration comes to many via psychedelic drug, meditation, or out of no where, as of now, my route of discovery comes via cycling and the scenery of everyday life.




The human mind is full of metaphorical colors and the rainbow of them represent something to everyone. For example, with this picture, Alex Grey painted a human with his eyes shut and colors coming out of his/her brain.These colors are the human "spirit" and consciousness. The baby on the left and right could possibly represent the creation of new ideas.

The road to possibilities

Like this picture, studying world literature can lead to many paths in life filled with a multitude of colors and experiences. Throughout the semester I have learned to better analysis books. By studying literature from different cultures, I am able to better understand different cultures' societal values, and attitudes towards things. By not reading things written from people from all around the world, one will remain ignorant about what the rest of humanity has to potentially offer them.


                                                                                      The Heroes Journey

"So perhaps the hero lurks in each one of when we don't know it?" (Moyer 131) We are the hero, we are the enemy, and we are everything in between. Heroism is doing something courageous, when we stand up for someone, it could risk our social status, job, or alter someone's opinion of us. Heroism doesn't have to what Spiderman, Superman, and Batman glorified it as. We are all heroes.

                                                                        Jonathan Swift

"Supposing that one thousand families in this city, would be constant customers for infants flesh, besides other who might have it at merry meetings, particularly at weddings and christening, I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses." (Swift, 7) Throughout A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift has been imposing a mood of satire. He jokingly talks about eating and selling babies to make money for Ireland. It is important to note the satire throughout because it makes one more aware of changes in attitude throughout a work.

                                                      Lord of the Flies

" "I'm part of you. Close, close. close! I'm the reason why it's a no go. Why things are the way they are." (Golding 147) Here, Simon is talking to The Lord of the Flies who is telling him that Simon himself and all of humanity is the beast. This book was and is so important to understanding literature and ourselves because Golding Chronicles the events of once sweet boys, turned savages. For literature, it is important because in order to fully understand the book, one must fully look through the metaphorical glasses of clarity.

Our culture

Culture is the customs of a place in the world. Such as the Israelis not eating pork. The picture above is showing a human on a computer. In today's world, our lives revolve around technology, so, the use of computers: Calculators, phones, GPS, and other things, are all part of the United States' and other developed countries cultures

Country: The culture of the United States is often defined as ignorant, fat pigs. But we are also known as a country which is involved in many things in the world. The picture above shows an example of what people think of us. Our statue of liberty is being mocked and is shown being fat and is holding a large coke and burger.

State: Colorado is known as an outdoor, active state. We like to hike, mountain bike, road bike, ski, snowboard, snowshoe, and much more. We are also known as the healthiest state. This is a picture of Tom Danielson, he is from Boulder, Colorado and he rides for the pro cycling team, Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda.

Town: I am from Manhattan Beach California. It is a surf/volleyball city, along with that, it is very wealthy. The picture above  shows a championship volleyball game. The city is famous for volleyball

Family:  My family likes to strive to achieve our best. We like to listen to both sides of an argument  Families help shape opinions and beliefs about their surroundings. The photo above is the logo for my dad's old company, Great Expectations. He founded it in 1976 and from there made a great amount of money. He has used his story to tell my brother and I that in order to be successful, we need to work hard

School: Monarch is known as a very athletic and smart school.

Friends: Within my group of friends, we are a group of deadhead, outdoorsy people who like to hike or mountain bike. I'm also part of a college group, Students for Sensible Drug Policy. The above image is a picture of the Grateful Dead logo, Steal your Face with the Colorado flag inside. It symbolizes my love for both Colorado and the Grateful Dead

Satirical Video

The Simpsons, steve Mobs