Holiday

I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday, Thanksgiving, and is enjoying today, Leftovers Day. As much as potatoes and turkey are a part of the American Holiday, we must not forget the most important ingrediant is family. For my own, I had grandparents travel all the way from Mexico. They traveled through a war-torn land just to be with the family for two days. The valor and courage my grandparents show every get together is one which inspires me to be close to family as much as I can. Modern society often loses sight among gifts, food, and fun that the whole reason holidays exists is because of family. I like to say if I ever attended a family reunion I will always talk to the older folks first before I see people my age. The reason being is for the knowledge one can gain from a conversation. The older generation has seen and lived times we as a race will never experience again. They have witnessed the world's past mistakes and therefore know what we can do to prevent them from arising ever again. We have to cherish and talk to grandparents and the elderly for they are unrecorded libraries of information

To you masses I hope you see the real reason for our holidays. It is time to wise up, wind up, and converse with anyone older than you next holiday season. You may just learn how to change your life or the world for the better.

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it.

Today's Post Brought To You In Part By Procrastination.

*clicks open my browser, types in www.blogger.com, clicks posting*

Jolly good, I shall begin the day's blog. Now then....to start typing...hmm. I'm not quite sure what to do here. Maybe I should not have neglected my duties and pre-written today's post. Guess the holidays got me. Well this is awkward. I cannot let my growing audience down, I must find a source! A source of inspiration, hope, and creativity. A place where this gentleman can find a thought process. I place where I can call: thinking...

Well that did not work. Now I am all energy and no idea. This is just floating flug flakes! Oops, even without a source I still must watch my tongue less I make a habit of it. In times of dire need all a gentleman has is his morals and values. Obviously, I can not find any values for the process of writing! Good Grief, where did my mind go??? I seem to have lost all strength in swimming out of the ocean of writer's block. Despair and no blogging is destined to meet me at the bottom. Oh woe is me......at least I still have my sense of humor.

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it.

Happy Birthday to A Rather Photogenic Gentleman

Happy birthday to the late louis daguerre whom would have turned 224 today had he not died at the age of 63. He invented the earliest process of creating photographs. I choose to make today's post about him not only because google is honoring him with a doodle but because I believe him to have invented one of the most important processes of our day. This man may not have invented the camera but he is a father of human culture progression. Photographs, as best used by Time magazine, can show us magnificent moments of human nature and history. A picture really does say a thousand words and can express every single human emotion possible. Everyone has heard of the nurse/solider photo from the 1920's, the fireman pulling the little girl out of the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, and really any picture of Woodstock taken show us what it was like to be in a certain moment in time. It could have been a happy or sad moment but for that split second we, the photograph viewer, get to feel just how the people did or what it was like to be in that location. I have always said humanity has already built a time machine and it can be found in almost every phone: the camera. Photographs are the result of the time travel. We are also brought together closer as a species when we view a powerful picture. Propaganda and advertisements are a more modern form of this artistic expression but can none the less move mountains of human souls. To tie this all off masses, do not view Louis Daguerre as just the man who was featured today on google. See him as the french gentleman who is responsible for starting the most important process, later device, of bringing humanity together and closer to understanding one another.

Ta ta for now, see you again when times call for it.

It Happens Every Day

Yesterday in my first morning class, I was asked a very unique writing prompt. School has been active for about 12 weeks now and I was to write about what I have learned in that particular class over this period of time. It was a government class so I thought about something simple, like who John Locke was, but my mind faced it self with a much greater question: What have I learned over the past 12 weeks not only in government, but over the course of my Senior Year? The Answer? So much to the point where life changed over night. Doing college/scholarship has taught me how to be responsible and on time, the triple load of homework has taught me how to manage studying and social life successfully, writing online has (funny enough) taught me how to be more social and accepting of criticisms, and most of all turning 18 gave me a taste of the adult life that is to come. Applying for the SSS taught me how to handle stress and showed me that there will be worse to come. If anything, knowing that has made me a more positive person for I can see it will be needed to help get through hard times. I am proud to blog happiness and the lessons I have been learning on this strange trip called life. To me, it does not matter what age you are. An 18 year old is just as lost as an 80 year old but that's what keeps life interesting. We are all searching the answers to living and find our mistakes to be the best part. Like I've said before, I cannot wait to get old. The stories of how I learned to live and the path I am still taking to find that answer will be wonderful for me to tell. I do not care if the answer does not exist. The mistake of me believing it certainly isn't hurting my life, it's actually improving. So to answer the question of what I have learned over the first 12 weeks of my Senior Year would be how to experience life with small mistakes. They really are what is worth living for in life. Perfection is boring; I'd always rather be accident prone.

Ta Ta for now, see you again when the times call for it.

RIP

When we first met
It was nothing special

We were never friends
Never once did we become buddies

Not even are we family
For our blood runs different

Yet there is one thing about you
That made me feel as if you were

You fought for my future
And battled for our country

Your courage on that fateful day
Is what will keep my children safe one day

RIP PFC Ira B. Laningham
Your community and country loved you

Mother Nature Wanted a Visit

Sometimes hopeless is hopeful and I certainly learned that yesterday
.
I was returning from an evening of studying when I found myself with no ride home. I pondered my fate and came across a blessing called my girlfriend's truck. She managed to get me home in one piece, we kissed, then departed. I strolled to my front door and reached my front pockets for my keys....and found it to be empty. I scramble through every possible opening in my jeans and backpack with the same result. I plopped my self in a chair outside and tried to think where my keys could have ended up. A few minutes later, the answer came to me in the form of a phone call from my girlfriend: I left them at her house.

So their I was, trapped outside in 95 degree weather with very few options. I as I do in stressful situations, I pulled out a book and began reading it. This strange sensation came over me when I began the book and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Thinking it was the heat, I hooked up my iPod to a portable speaker I have to distract myself from it. Once the music started I felt it. It was the feeling from before. It was a feeling I had not felt for so long. It was relaxation and not just any ol' relaxation; it was relaxation from being with nature. I read and hear music all the time inside the comfort of a modern home but being outside brought out a different feel. The calm breeze, smell of trees, and beautiful color of the sky brought me back to Mother Nature herself. I actually wanted to be outside. I felt like I was in a world all of my own free of stress despite the situation I was in. When help finally came, I frowned at the thought of leaving this comfort zone. I learned something from it though.

Modern life has it wonderful comforts but with it comes quite a lot of stress. Work, school, and just life can sometimes bring one down. Yet we forget that the greatest stress reliever exists just right outside your door. Nature's beauty will open it's arms out to you and relax every last nerve you have. Reading, writing, constructing a machine, or just simply sitting become much more enjoyable when you place your being in Nature. I am actually typing this outside and have it enjoyed it more than any other post I have done to this day. I highly suggest to you masses to let Mother Nature spoil you for a bit. You certainly will not regret it.

Ta Ta for now, see you again when times call for it

Not Everyone Can Be Marty McFly

It is about this time of the year when schools, parents, and friends often give the pressure of completing or starting any forms you may have that relate to a certain word which will be glued to my mind for the next four years: college. Needless to say, I have been on top of my applications to the point where I have already been accepted! This does sound like good news to the average ear but the reality of it is actually bad and I realized this before it was too late.

It all started on September 23, 2011. I was attending the band (7 years on the trumpet) bus headed back home and enjoying it with 3 great friends. We were having the time of our lives telling stories, trading advice, and generally causing a ruckus for everyone. Not my most mannered moment but remember, all gentleman have a wild moment here and there. Anyways, once we got home I was hit with sadness. I did not know why and had to think for about a day until I got an answer.

Since the beginning of my Senior Year I have been occupying all of my time with nothing but applications of all sorts. To this day I can remember nothing else. I did not create a single Senior Year memory until that day. I sacrificed memories for planning towards the future. A future where I would be missing some of my past because I forgot the present.

Thankfully I learned then before it was too late. I believe being on time to turn in college applications is good, even gentlemanly, but you can not let it take over your life. I may have noticed it now but I will regret missing making memories with friends I may no longer see next year. Do not be the fool who misses the present for the future.

Ta ta for now, see you again when times call for it

Losing = Learning

I learned an important lesson today and felt in today's world of competition, the rest of you should as well.

For some time now, I have had pride in my test scores. A gentleman can not survive without intelligence and having something to prove that is helpful. As of today, I can no longer hold that pride for someone blew my scores straight out the water. This person succeeded where I had failed and my pride did feel a sting of pain. Then it hit me: jealousy, a gentleman's worst enemy. I disliked feeling like this as it shows weakness in a man and I needed to find sanity in literature. Instead of opting for Jules Vern, I went for a different classic. He is a man who we have all grown up with and have even ridden our first trolley thanks to his life lessons. His name is Fred Rogers but we mostly know him as THE Mr. Rogers. I purchased a biography about him titled "The World According to Mr. Rogers". In it, I found an inspirational story. It stated, and I quote:

"A young apprentice applied to a master carpenter for a job. The older man asked him, “Do you know your trade?” “Yes, sir!” the young man replied proudly. “Have you ever made a mistake?” the older man inquired. “No, sir!” the young man answered, feeling certain he would get the job. “Then there’s no way I’m going to hire you,” said the master carpenter, “because when you make one, you won’t know how to fix it.”


I instantly felt inspired and changed. I didn't need to feel jealous towards a loss or mistake I made but instead had to learn. Take it like this. You and another are taking a test. You get a 70 and the other passes with a perfect paper. The other person has learned nothing from this test taking experience and will leave the room with an ego. You, on the other hand, will have learned from the wrong choices you picked and will leave the room with a higher level of knowledge. You will remember these mistakes for the rest of your life, improve off of them, and become a better person; all from a low grade! How dare I, the LoneGentleman, pass up such an amazing opportunity to learn! This person obviously knows something I do not and I can learn from them just by asking. Instead of moping like some sort of sloth, I can go ask questions on how they earned this score. We could even share methods and refine each other. To you masses, I say jealousy is not only a sign of weakness but a loss for yourself in personal refinement. 2nd place needs to ask 1st what they did to get there. Knowledge is meant to be shared not blocked by silly childish rivalry. Maybe I need to go out and make a new friend now.


Ta ta for now, see you again when times call for it.