What I Thought About This Book...

I honestly learned quite a bit of things from this book. I had the idea that the food industry had a heavy impact on all our lives in a bunch of ways, but I didn't think it'd be as big as Kellogg and General Mills standoff as well with Coca Cola and Pepsi alongside Dr. Pepper. I kinda take all of the ideas behind these main brands for granted because they're a small portion of out life, but really they shaped what we eat today. I never thought there was a feud with families and how they were too sugary. I'd think back then sugar was an awesome thing, and to have it in your breakfast to get you up in the morning would be awesome! But people back then apparently didn't like that idea and shut it down from the very moment it was on the shelves.
This book actually taught me what certain tastes can do for someone. I never knew that fat is just a texture and not just some "add-on" to food to make it taste better. Who'd of thought that the crunchy texture from a cookie was actually the well doing of fat and that every time you eat a hot dog, the reason it's not so rubbery is because the fat actually takes that texture away and gives it a more "edible" feel to it? It's amazing!
I for one am now going to look at food a lot differently than I did before reading this, regardless it won't really change my eating habits. I honestly look at a few products here and there and wonder, "Hey. ... I wonder if this brand went to trial." or something like that. It's really funny when you think about it. It's obvious too though because foods can cause life or death, so trial is like a "second chance" I suppose, but that's just rambling about it.

10 Personal Things

1. I am grateful that I met my awesome and super adorable sir. Did I mention she's a derp?..maybe a just a little bit.

2.  I am grateful for the invention of smash bros.

3. I am grateful for my drawing "talent".

4.I am grateful for my friends sticking with me.

5.  I am grateful for still being alive.

6. I am grateful for video games, cause most of my time would be watching paint dry if it weren't for that. (aside from YouTube and drawing... and speaking of Youtube...)

7. I'm grateful for YouTube.

8. I'm grateful for being happy with what I have and not asking for more.

9. I'm grateful for being born with an opportunity to survive.

10. And lastly, I'm grateful that I have been given siblings, cousins and all that so that my childhood could be awesome and filled with happy days.

Incest vs Family; How Far Back Can You Still Call It Incest?

   Think about it; the term "family" is just an idea to keep us at bay with our loved ones, and incest is closer than you think.

   We are all "family". That can be a literal term, or a hypothetical term, or even a symbolic term. Family - technically - can go either way with what you believe it is. By a law in space and time, we are all connected in some shape or form. Our ancestors got together with other ancestors and had children to then later have children themselves. Thus after centuries of population growth, it's hard to tell where you came from a long time ago. Science today can tell you who your grandparents came from and then where you're parents came from and so on, but if you dig deep enough, you'll find that, in a long ways away in time, you could be my cousin. You could be my uncle in law, or even a great, great uncle or aunt in law, or what ever. In brief, we are all blood related in some way, because we all came from an ancestor from a long time ago. You are married to someone related to you. Does that make is incest? Where do we draw the line where we aren't 'technically' genetically related so that we can marry and produce offspring?

   An interesting thing to think about, is that when people too closely related to one another have a baby, that baby is given birth defects. Whether it be physical or mental. Either way, incest mating will create birth defects. But since we are all related, due to the ancestor law, shouldn't that make all of our children born with defects? It's actually from how far away blood relation goes that depends the birth defects related to incest. It's not always certain, of course because birth defects can happen in a matter of ways such as smoking during pregnancy, but if there wasn't a problem with things like that aside from incest, then could we tell who our long lost ancestor's offspring are? Could science see this and find out how to pinpoint how far back in time can we go to find how genetically close we are to our spouse? ... It's only a thought. We are all blood related either way, so thus, we are always family. Humans themselves are family; a huge family. We share hearts and brains, and we share compaction towards one-another. Incest is actually just a thought brought by humans just as family is. How far back do YOU think you need to go back into your family tree to draw the line between incest and love? ..Think about it.

NEW Christmas 2.0

Michael J. Sandel makes a good point. We are spending things on things that are affordable and are up-for-grabs. We, as a society, can buy anything we damn well please, and the only thing that stops us, is our treasury in general. It's not our fault though, we spend because it shows ourselves that we are capable of spending on luxury, and still survive with our necessities taken care of. My greatest fear is to live on my own and have a money problem in keeping me alive. I'm scared to move out soly for that reason, and I'm sure tons of people are the same way. I don't think I can do it in an economy like the one we have today. Aside from that, we the bare fact of spending as a sign of relief that we aren't broke or bankrupt.
Lauren Smith also makes a good point as well. We do spend a lot on Christmas and our spending on gifts usually shrouds the idea that we're suppose to be together, happy, as a family. But on the other side, whenever someone has been given a gift, when has someone not been happy? There's a lot of alternatives to that statement and there always are, with dark spots in the world where people give toothpicks as "gifts" and such, but the big picture shows that people are happy when receiving a gift. The "new" and modern Christmas is about being alive and happy. Gift giving shows us that we are alive when we're happy and when we can't see what's inside the gift makes us curious and wonder like the kids we used to be. New Christmas is about living and being happy knowing we can lay down for a bit and see that we all can be happy at once.

NEW PEOPLE, NEW LEARNING HABITS, AND PROCRASTINATION...

     I literally just got here, and I'm totally new here to college. I wish I could say I got the hang of it, but I'm still very fresh out of high school to know what I'm doing. I can understand why it's hard too, cause I need to get out of my habit of having things done with the help from the teacher. It's just like exiting elementary and moving to jr. high; it's a very big step and you're in habits that are hard to break.
     I came here thinking things were going to be very different. I thought school was going to be very troublesome because I also thought that people here were going to be hard on me for being fresh out of high school. I don't know anyone here like I would a friend, but I do know a few people from high school. It's not easy coming from a place that walks you through things, so this experience is really interesting and very disturbing because I always get that feeling that I'm going to fail harder than I did in high school. Actually, though, the people here don't seem to care that I'm new here. I like that a lot. I also like how people here enthuse about learning and WANT to learn here. I would think it's because you now have to pay for classes, and it'd be much better on you to try to pass so you don't have to pay for it if you fail, but either way, they want to learn. This is a big difference from high school. People from there, usually ones I pair up with, are kids who think it's funnier to not learn and pay attention, and I usually don' get work done because of it. I never liked how 80% of the people in the class never wanted to learn, but it's typical high school I suppose. Being here in college though, is a LOT better learning wise. People enthuse about learning and they like to help. I've only met a few people who are "meh" about learning, but it's not too bad. One other thing that trips me up about here, is that the classes mostly compose of online work. It's hard for me to keep track now and then because I'm not so used to it. I'm more used to having the teacher appoint an assignment to us and having us either do it in class or at home. But having online work SHOULD be a lot easier, especially since the work isn't due till the end of the week, but it also promotes procrastination a lot since you're not told every class day to do it. Plus, you can get to the work online to work on it whenever you want, so with that said, it's really easy to put it off. And for coming straight out of high school, it's really hard to break that habit to get work done when I get it the first day. I'm not blaming anyone but myself for this, but I also feel upset because I wasn't informed about online homework. I probably was in high school, but I initially wasn't coming here, but instead to a barber school to learn how to cut hair to later get a job as a barber on base. I like that fact though that I'm here. It means I didn't skip out in preparing myself for what I want to do, and this online class thing will help me stop procrastinating. This week obviously isn't a prime example of it, but someday I'll break out of it.

RANT: Reality TV

     I am one of those people who really hates reality tv. If you're someone who actually enjoys it, I'd rather you no read this because this blog entry is all about why I hate it, and all it's entirety. I don't know the purpose of what reality tv has to offer. Who wants to see someone else's drama-exaggerated life? I guess following the characters would be cool because I know how it is to follow characters to see how they react to certain situations, but every reality tv show that I've seen has very stupid characters. Jersey Shore, Honey Booboo, the god forsaken world of Toddlers and Tiaras.. *shivers*... These shows are like the dawn of what society is into nowadays. Most people I see that aren't close friends of mine are into shows like these, and my mind can't wrap around the idea as to why these shows are entertaining. I literally have no idea, and I believe they don't hurt society. If that were true, then video games hurt society. But I do believe that reality tv shows are a waste of a good audience.
     I, myself, watch anime. I love to draw, and I love drama, so anime is my "go to" if I want to get into a show. The shows I watch have a plot, then have a plot in the background that you never notice till it's brought to you, and the characters that follow with the plot are the ones you adore most because they know what they're doing and don't get themselves into trouble on the path to solve the problem; most of the time. These characters are funny, heartwarming, and they generally are very emotional and more "alive", ironic to say, than people who are in reality shows. I'm basing facts and opinions of what I've seen, so I'm of course gonna be off on points. The characters on the reality shows that I've watched seem very boring. There's a personal problem with EVERYTHING. Everyone's got beef with everyone and there's not ONE person who has any kind of sense in their head. I'm mostly relating this to Jersey Shore, but for some reason, nobody stays friends. There'll be a heartwarming part just sprinkled in there, but then it's taken away because someone was a bumbin' idiot and screwed up somewhere. Then when everyone was just "friends", you could say, they turn and hate each other again like a high school of emotional brats. You could argue that this show is suppose to be a drama/comedy, and I do think it's suppose to be that way. But if you can't keep at least one person to be true to themselves and or have anyone morally correct and NOT gossip about their "friends", then why watch it if it's going to leave you feeling like people around you will treat you like a load of butts? The anime I watch aren't the mainstream anime anyone who doesn't watch normally depict as. It's nothing like Pokemon or whatever. You could even say that the anime I watch could relate to these reality shows, because they both have the same components. They both carry a strong resemblance to people you may know, they have characters that are all-around jerks, and they both also have hatred and love spread out along the shows with betrayal as a key factor. If that's true, then why am I giving reality tv shows hate? I believe the reason is that because these characters always gossip about each other behind a camera every 2 minutes is why. Not just that, but the bare fact that these characters don't trust each other as far as these characters can throw each other. What's more, is that I don't think they represent what real friends should be. They have your back, yes, but at they end of the day, they shouldn't stab it. The audience to these shows I will not judge. I'm sure actually that the people who watch these know what good tv is, but for some reason watch these for a fact that I cannot understand. I feel that the people who watch this know what makes a good tv show, but they haven't tv that inspires that idea. I'm not one to say anything at all, because I don't watch reality tv, but it's the viewer's choice to understand and comply with what I'm saying.
     This rant isn't really important at all, and most of the time rants aren't. The ideas I took out are ideas I personally have. I believe that people who watch reality tv waste their time watching these shows when they could be watching something better. They don't harm you mentally, unless you watch these and think your friends aren't who you think they are, but other than that, these shows shouldn't harm a person mentally. Physically though, of course if you watch too much tv or have to much of anything, they will harm you. I try to draw a dashed line on my opinions; lines you can cross but you still are aware are there in the case you don't want to cross. It's your choice to follow in my ideas of reality tv, but in the end of the day, it's your choice, as an audience, to make that choice.

The Dreaded Green Beans

     When I was a kid, I was very picky. I always had a choice, here and there, and if I ever had to eat something or do something I didn't want to, but had to, then very mixed emotions would spur up from that. I never liked being forced to do things. Roller coasters were a biggy as well. My opinion on them never changed to this day though. I don't like them, but their an example where I'm usually put on a guilt trip to ride them or even sometimes forced to ride them. Even through I don't like doing things that I'm forced to do, there are some things I turn out liking when I try it. Green beans made a great change in my eating habits and it's because I was forced to eat them.
     There was a dinner sitting in front of me, and I had everything in front of me that I loved. Mashed potatoes, corn and fried chicken. I finished it all, but once I was about to leave the table, my dad stopped me. He noticed I didn't eat any green beans and told me to sit down and get some. I was about 6 years old and, being of course that kids generally don't like vegetables, I just sat there staring at it. It took me a few minutes to actually do anything. Once I took a bite though, I couldn't handle how "healthy" it was and sat there for minutes again. With a lot of time waisted, my parents started to put anything on it to try to get me to eat it. They put butter on it, mashed potatoes, chocolate, but being stubborn, I never "enjoyed" it, but I did finish. Afterwords though, about a year later, I remembered that moment where I couldn't eat the green beans, and, having practically the same meal in front of me like before, I went in and got some green beans. Funny though, they weren't as bad as I had recalled. I don't know why, but for some reason when I ate it, I grew to like it. Then in turn, I started to actually enjoy eating squash and broccoli because they weren't "as bad" as green beans. I now eat my vegetables because of my change in opinion from the green beans.
     This was a little weird for me because I guess my taste buds adapted to the taste of green beans faster than I thought. I'm not complaining at all, in fact, I couldn't be happier that I like vegetables and stayed out of the stubborn, child phase.

Innocent Eyes That A Child Once Wore

           Being innocent and having eyes that children wear can be a burden, unless of course they save you from a tight situation. Having innocent eyes usually turn you to a side that’ll benefit you with uplifting emotions. And, like me all through elementary, those were that only eyes I had. I was a very small child who always listened to what he was told to do, even if a peer told me to do something. Of course, if it was morally correct, I’d follow. I had two best friends in third grade around a time where I hardly even knew what a friend even was. Their names were Maya, and Ira, and one of them stuck with me till the end of elementary. Maya was a slightly taller guy with short, black, curly hair, with a tan shade of skin. Ira was an even taller kid with blond, short hair with white skin. They were both kind hearted people, but Maya had more etiquettes and loved to draw, while Ira was more of a jock who didn’t really show much respect for anybody. All in all though, they were my best friends and were kind at heart.

            One day though, while playing tag during an early recess, around lunch time, something conflicting happened that I didn’t register as “important”. The day was a clear day where the sky was overcast, and the light was dimmed to a dark bluish-gray color. Construction was being done on the playground where the bars were, but during recess, we were playing on the large grass area aside from the construction. A tree to the back of the grass area, away from all the kids, was the area we all used to play. It was just a normal play of tag with Maya, Ira and I, until... “Hey! You cheated!” Ira exclaimed. Maya touched home base after apparently being tagged by Ira.

            “No I didn’t! I touched base!” replied Maya. “You saw me, right Matthew?”

            No! You cheater! I tagged you, now you’re it!” Ira continued furiously. “What do you think Matthew?”

            I turned toward both opposing friends as they stared back at me awaiting an answer. Now, I chose without understanding why I chose, and till this day, I still don’t know why. I felt really awkward because I was very empathetic and didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, and little did I know, that whoever I chose, would lead me down two totally different roads. If I chose Maya, I’d be an artist because I’d be playing with him more often. He drew a lot and doodled when he could. With his morally correct attitude, it would shape me into a person of manners. On the other hand though, if I chose Ira, I’d be playing more sports and being more in the ‘in’ ground since he was pretty popular. Although, being with him, I’d be less respectful for the fact that he wasn’t as respectful as Maya. Me being innocent and unshaped, any of these two could shape me in any way they wanted. Going back to the choice that, in reality only took about five seconds, I finally warmed up to say that Ira did not in fact tag Maya, and that he was safe. That being said, Ira left angry and Maya wanted to play with me afterwards. We all still stayed friends, but I guess Ira didn’t see me as “agreeable” with him with things, so he stopped playing as much as he did before with us.

            That day on, Maya and I drew together and stayed in the classroom or empty benches alone. Sometimes we’d play in the playground during recess, but moreover, we drew. Because I stood with him, my morals grew and I became a nice person learning off of him. He left around 7^th grade, so I was on my own for a while. I found some friends in 8^th grade who were annoying and made me question life as to who my friends are. I was lost and had no idea who I was since Maya left, as he was one of the only people I ever hung out with. Throughout high school though, it didn’t get any better. My life spiraled into a dark depression where I was lost, and still very innocent with those eyes I used to have finally seeing why things happen the way they do. And by the time I thought it was all just garbage, and that life was just something you play, but keep losing in, I met someone Junior year. She was alone at a table drawing during Art class, that we both took but I never noticed her till, and I asked her to come over to my table since I felt that she didn’t deserve to be alone.  After getting to know her, I automatically just grew incautious with her. This all happened out of nowhere, and I even confessed the day I realized I was, but I never stopped liking her. And since then till today, I met the love of my life who also loves to draw and has a large moral standard to herself and others. I’ve become more emotional and alive off of being alone and drawing by myself before I met her, and I’m extremely happy, with how my life, formed off of that choice, is going. Aside from a lot of exceptions where life was very depressing. Although, had I not chose Maya, I would of never found great friends and the love of my life. But could my view of love had been different and would I be equally as happy in retrospect? I’ll never know. But what I do know is, “I live my life with no regret. I live and I learn, forgive and forget.”

Marriage and How I Personally Protray it to be.

   Marriage is something that should be treasured. It's a blessing to be with the one you choose to be with, and to have yourself stay faithful with that one person you love, is like an all-time dream come true. Divorce is for people who can't handle and manage their feelings. I don't mean to be a jerk, but people who divorce can't handle loving someone and the emotional roller coaster that strikes them whenever like wants to give them a challenge. I for one am devoted to the one I love. Someone "sane" I suppose would consider me to be a helpless romantic or even go as far as to say I'm clingy, but those "sane" people, don't know the first thing about love if they'd had it.
   To be loving one another, shouldn't be rushed. Never should it be shrugged off and neither should it be a "side-life". If you love someone to the point of marriage, then it should be very clear that you are there for a reason, and reading all this crap about how marriage with someone you love wouldn't last just aggravates me. I literally couldn't stop getting pissed off because of how this marriage thing was studied. Putting a limit on marriage?... Spit in my face while you're at it. I see these "studies", and I know I'm using a lot of quotes, but this is just unbelievable, are just wrongly ladled and just utterly and downright stupid to take it. I, for one, have studied relationships, because I've been shot down about nine times before I found 'the one'. After those nine rejections, I realized that these girls didn't like me, even though I tried my best to try to show them how much I liked them, and how much I wanted a chance. But they didn't give me a chance, let alone a say in it. But by the time I found the one girl who I kept dreaming about, literally, and kept getting giddy after seeing her for a few seconds, made me realize something. That there is such a thing as "love at first sight". To put this in perspective, it's basically like seeing someone you just cannot let go, and someone you would commit suicide if you broke up or if the other person were to die as well. Having dreams of that person CONSTANTLY about holding hands is a big sign that this is true, and let alone having the emotional impact of holding hands be the equivalent to having intercourse is just amazing. That "butterfly" feeling is when you found that special someone, whether your man or not. ... And by "man", I mean that stereotypical "man" who holds in his feelings and wants to show his "tough guy" face all the time.
    To end this blog entry, and I'm sorry I'm so caught up in the love scene... but having a family who always downgrades you and how little you actually get love from anybody, really makes you a sucker for love, especially for someone who you just want to lay down with and cuddle everyday. My intentions on marriage does not follow what the book says. I want to love like a true, and faithful couple would love. Where everyone has an equal say, and how we're each other's number one fan. I see marriage as a great experience that shouldn't be thrown away, thus those who have, deserve no pity from me. I don't mean to be a jerk, but those people who lost their true love over anything that could have been fixed, should chase after them again, and never look back.

My life now is all about art. I grew up with it even since my older brother found
a game called Sonic Adventure 2: Battle from a friend of his. After playing is a
lot, my older brother started drawing little doodles about the game, and being the
younger brother, I followed in. I began drawing little doodles of Sonic, then I
went into drawing Kirby. After a while of that, I spun into a series of comics I
made following those two characters that lasted for about 200 comic books. I never
knew of what that did for me. I always just thought drawing that kind of stuff and
spending time making stories and junk was fun, and it is, but I never thought that
it would build up my spelling and my story making skills up. Even though it was all
fun and games making Sonic and Kirby, I had to move on.

Present day, I changed a lot from who I was then, in a pretty weird way. I am more
open about myself, I hardly care for what others have to say about me, and my
drawing style improved quite a bit. My drawings have changed as well though. I
moved on from drawing Sonic and Kirby, and because of a long past of being pushed
around, followed by being looked down on, I left those characters and now I'm
drawing more of what comes to MY head and not someone else's. My drawings range
now from creepy and disturbing things ( moreover), then to subtle things such as
chibi doodles and cute little people, then to perverted things too which I do not
want to describe, but I'm pretty proud of opening up into a new category such as
that.

I see my future self successful. I want to make a story that creeps someone out so
they have nightmares. I also want to make a story that makes someone cry when they
watch it. But I also want to make all these stories, animated. I want them to be
one-of-a-kind. So having that been said, my future self will have a great life.
Hopefully with my girlfriend as well, who also is a fanatic of drawling like I am.
After community college, I see myself and her attending the Otis University in LA.
... I am scared of thinking of the future, and it always bugs me to talk about it,
so all I do is set goals and pay attention to the present so I don't stray from it.
In a nutshell, I was, am, and will always be an artist.