dreams

i was reading a thing online about dreams, and how/why they happen. it's all pretty interesting stuff. the site also suggested the meaning of some common dreams. to my surprise i've had almost all of them:

being chased- i've had that one a couple times
forgetting that you have to take a test- oh god, i hate that one.
your teeth falling out- i had no idea that was common! well i've had that one once. i think it was like two years ago... it felt like i had something in my mouth, and i spit it in my hand, and it was my front tooth! awkward, very awkward.
falling- i had that one for the first time a couple weeks ago. i was snowboarding, and i turned right off a cliff. it was a lame cliff too because it wasn't like a mile high. it was just high enough for me to brake every bone in my body and die. man, what a shitty dream.
running but going nowhere- i thought i was the only one that had this dream! i always have this one too. it's exactly like they say on the site: your legs are moving, but your not going anywhere- like a treadmill. i hate that one!

the only dreams i haven't had are the 'naked in public' ones and the 'flying' ones. i have no idea what they mean, i don't care too much, but it's all pretty interesting. all of the suggested interpretations indicate that i'm a really insecure person, who is never in control, and who is always afraid of just about everything. my only response is: hmm, ok.
on a lighter note- my favorite dream happened when i was like 11 or 12. I was laying in my bed, and all of a sudden, the x-men broke into my room. the best part was that spiderman, and superman ( and maybe the fantastic four )were all there. i jumped up and started helping them fight the cyborg robots down the hallway! i know... it's so exciting!! oh yeah, Captain America was there too. ok, enough about this topic
dreams, weird stuff --isn't it?
-steve

success isn't everything

I was eating dinner last night, and my dad brought up the topic of the whole "education thing". you know, how the united states is ranked with other countries. in a round-about way, i think he was trying to pin this one on me... ya, it's my fault that asians go to school for 35 hours every day, 445 days a year. So this all got me thinking---> i've come to the assumption that a lot of our habits are genetic. i've never given our genes the credit they deserve. i've always thought that people were really individuals and so on. anyways, here's what i've come up with.
something like 5000 B.C. the chinese (and egyptians) were coming up with really complex math equations, and writing systems, and science achievements and bla bla bla. The middle eastern countries were working hard just to survive in their harsh environment. skip ahead a few thousand years, and you have the creation of america. starting like 100 years ago, schools started to become more and more popular (in the united states at least). All the intellectuals started going to college, while the country boys were still working down in the south. With soooo many scholarly students attending schools, the country's scores were sky rocketing. other countries catch on, but the U.S. has a head start with the school system (in general). Our scores remained high for a while, but they slowly start to drop. why? good thing you asked! i'll tell you!
some jackass decided that ALL people should attend school. College was no longer just for college-boys. Now all the country boys attend school-- they bring down the scores of the intellectuals, and our rank drops. Presently, it's the law for everyone to go to school! People don't even raise their kids with the idea of giving them an option-->work vs school. Now parents have pretty much all decided that their kids should be forced to go to school (even if they are as dumb as a rock) and then they can join the work force. There's really no place in the world for all the people who were born and breed to do labor. now 'work' takes place in an office or cubical.
You may say,"well, why doesn't this happen in other countries?" who these are some really convenient questions: because i'll answer them right now!!
Asian countries (like Japan) tend to have a very homogenous population. -ya that's right, not much diversity there. therefore, if some people happen to be good at academics, it's likely that the rest of the country will all be good at the same thing. This isn't just true in asia though. The Irish tend to be strong and hard working, Arabs tend to be focused on staying alive in their crappy environment, and so on.
This brings us back to America. we're a country of diversity! yay! so doesn't it make sense that we are only average when it comes to academics? or that the american's work ethic isn't the best or the worst.
Last thing i swear: i'd like to say this is probably all bull shit, but i still want to say that all the disorders like a.d.d or obsessive compulsive disorder, or whatever--> well it's all because of schools! Some people were just meant to use their hands. if you force them to sit in a class room all their childhood, and a cubical all their adult life... well it's no wonder so many americans are so screwed up. We just don't have enough real problems to deal with, so we focus too much on our eating habits, or relationships, or whatever.
Ok that's it. that's the source of all america's problems...ever. now it's your turn to comment on how to solve these problems.
- i would also like to say that diversity has it's benefits. The U.S. is very successful, and that's because we have the best of both worlds (Brains and Brawns)

-steve

ps i know i'm not really as smart as i pretend to be, but i sound like i know what i'm talking about. right?

a day late and a buck short

hmmm, i was just thinking about my semester grades and i thought- why not blog about it? as much as i hate school, there are some things that i really like. for example, i like 1 teacher. 1, that's right. if you know me then you know how much i respect mr. Kukla (trig/pre-calc teacher) ok well i got my grades back and, well it started off good- with a B, but that was followed with a C and then a C and then a... C! yeah so i'm usually an A/B student, but now i guess i'm a B/C student. it's not that i couldn't get better grades, i just didn't try to. all through high school i cut grades as close as i could. last year i got a 91% in chemistry because i had a 102% before the final- so all i had to do was answer like 8 questions right. and i did just that. (well i answered like 15 of the 45, just to be safe). Sophomore year i had like a 107% in the third quarter- so i stopped doing all the work for the last two weeks. i cut that one really close because i had to end up getting an A on the final to keep my A in the class. and i did! ok so you get the idea of how i look at school, but for some reason teachers and parents don't like this logic. (actually my chemistry teacher was pretty cool about it). but i always get the 'why can't you just reach your full potential' speech. i just don't see the difference between a 98% and a 90%-- they're both A's.
ok so this year, i had a B in math. (key word= had) before the final i had an 86%. all needed to keep by B was a 64% on the final. i figured- why even study?--i've been getting A's and B's on most of the tests. so i got my report card and it said "C". ya, i was pissed too. i said there has to be some mistake. today, i went in to talk to him and he said that i got a 62% on the final. DAMN! then i asked what grade did i end up with? the answer was a 79.1%. yeah, the sucks even more. i always cut things close, but i've never slipped like that.
so, got the lecture form my dad and i told him that a C made no real difference than a B because i'm already accepted into the college i want to go to. he didn't follow my train of though because apparently, in 10 years from now- people are going to care about my high school grade in math. also, i was terrified to find out that if i don't practice good study habits now... i will never have the skills to get through the most important thing in life-- college!!! oh no! i'm screwed!
ok so i asked Mr Kukla if he entered all my extra credit into the computer, and he said yes. he also said that he got a bunch of e-mail that said how much of a bad teacher he was because people deserved better grades and stuff. that's when it hit me- i was being one of those pathetic whining bastards!! that's probably the most important thing i've learned form this grade. i know that it's not his fault, and i don't hold it against him. i tried to walk a thin line, and i tripped. i know it's my fault, (i'm not too worried about it) but i accept that blame. i'm a strong believer in taking responsibility for your actions and i also accept the results of playing the odds. life is really just a big game of russian roulette... sorta. work with the cards in your hand, and accept whatever happends- but don't blame it on the dealer! so i've learned... a grade isn't worth begging over, but it might not be worth working for either. i'm sure i'll be ok in 10 years from now, but i'd rather not plan out my life that far ahead.
-steve