I actually hate ketchup. Anyways, my life has been quite uneventful. I've been working at the local Radioshack; helping customers and selling stuff are my main duties, but lately we've been doing lots of inventory and cleaning as well, and we always have the duty of talking about video games, movies, TV shows, web-comics, computers, and other nerd stuff like that. I really enjoy helping customers with their issues; it's always a nice feeling when someone comes in confused and I know exactly how to fix their problem and make it so that they understand how their device works even a little bit. I think working at Radioshack is partly why I was inspired to become a teacher. In high school, I didn't really do any volunteering. My parents didn't really encourage me to do it, and even though I knew plenty of people who did, it just didn't appeal to me at all; why would I want to "give back to the community"? What exactly had the community given to me? What did I have to gain? In high school, I tended to be rather bitter and cynical toward the people around me, and was not very thankful at all; I just wanted to be left alone and let to live my life. I started working at Radioshack late in my junior year, and I liked it a lot. I enjoyed working with electronics, I enjoyed the relatively laidback attitude of my employer, and *gasp* I enjoyed helping people. I didn't think about this too much, though, and my senior year, I figured it was "too late" to start volunteering. I was "too busy," anyways, what with my senior year and senior project and scholarship notebook and procrastinating in College English (the UW Outreach-sponsored Language Arts class from HELL). Then college came around. I realized that to get into Woodring College, the education program at WWU, I would have to "get involved" and turn in an impressive resume. So I decided to join some clubs and start volunteering. Much to my surprise, somehow, I enjoyed it. I felt accomplished. I felt like I was doing something positive, even if only in a small and minute way. I learned about how our education system is totally screwed. I still have much to learn, and I have yet to read Jonathan Kozol's book the Elie has recommended that everyone read, but I intend to read it as soon as possible. It's very important that people know about it, and now it's very important that I do my part in fixing it. When I graduate, I'd like to teach at a low-income school. I'll probably be teaching math, since most schools in low-income areas don't have music programs, but if there is one, I would definitely like to be a part of it, even if its just an after-school thing. Kids in those areas need something positive in their lives to keep their minds enriched, something that can make them even a little bit excited about school, even if it's just one part of it. I want to make kids excited about music and learning about it and making it. Even if I just start a drum circle club, or help out with a hip-hop club; anything relating to music, I want to be there with those kids. After mind-numbing days learning about stuff in an environment that totally lacks energy, I want to be there with the soundtrack that keeps them sane. It's a pretty high goal, but even if I just end up having a little club band that all the high-achieving kids participate in, at least I can say I tried. Math is a little harder to get kids excited about, but I'll be damned if I don't learn dem kids good. I'd like to figure out a way to make kids excited about math, to tell convince them that it's not nerdy to enjoy it, to show awesome ways to apply it to their lives... but I have a hard time doing that with myself sometimes! I'm up for the challenge, though.
Let's see... in other news, I know I said I wouldn't talk about video games anymore, but I GOT A PLAYSTATION 3. $240. Pretty damn good deal if I may say so myself. Right now, I have Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted, Oblivion, and... umm... crap what's the fourth game... Assassin's Creed! Yesss. I might turn in Uncharted and replace it with LittleBigPlanet if GameStop has it tomorrow. I'm also playing through Final Fantasy X again. It's so addicting! So many heartbreaking moments... and I forgot to talk about some of the conversations some of the characters have about the religion in their world. At one point the essentially atheist character Rikku is arguing with the devout Yevon follower Wakka about the religion's ways and why they're wrong; if a few phrases and words were replaced in the conversation, it might as well have been had by a real-world skeptical atheist and blind, ignorant Christian [NOT to say that all Christians are ignorant AT ALL]. I find it very interesting. Anyways, I'm playing through it to try to unlock various secret stuff. And just to play through the storyline again.
Also, I've recently started watching Firefly on Hulu at the suggestion of several friends, and boy am I not regretting it! It's such an intriguing show. The basic premise is pretty standard sci-fi fare; a ship of space smugglers try to find jobs and avoid the Alliance's ships as well as super-bad criminals. But the characters are so very rich and interesting. Also, the show takes many action/sci-fi/drama cliches and twists them around for some hilarious moments. Example: the captain is lecturing a fugitive doctor about how he's done nothing good for the crew and how he got one of the crew members shot, and then says that that crew member has died. Dramatic music plays. The doctor runs down to the infirmary... only to find the crew member alive, awake, smiling, and waving. The scene cuts to the captain laughing hysterically with his crew about how they should have seen the look on his face. The show also has a Wild West tinge to it, to reflect the "frontier" aspect of space, where outlaws roam and the law is flexible on the outer fringe planets.
This weekend, I'm going to see several bands perform in Seattle at the Capitol Hill Block Party, a two-day music festival. I'm quite excited. I'll tell all about it when I return. Also, next week I'M SEEING ELIE AGAIN. It'll have been another three weeks [actually more], which has been rough. But you know, compared to most couples, I'm super-proud of us. We talk about once a day, and other than that live our lives normally. We still don't really argue at all. Our relationship is still perfectly healthy. It's impressive! I don't know if I know any other couples that are doing or have ever done as well as we're doing now. That sounds rather high-and-mighty, but it's awesome! Anyways, Squirrel Baggers United isn't going to go through any secession anytime soon, that's for sure.
--Jon
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