gradin' time

oh hey, again!  Let's see how ya'll did!
cross your fingers and hope for the best.

1. Compare/Contrast
2. Narrative
3. Definition
4. Cause and Effect
5. Process Analysis
6. Description

Well, I hope these are right.

1. Sometimes hope and want can be used similarly, but they are different.  To go along with the holiday spirit, you can both hope for a puppy for Christmas and want a puppy for Christmas.  However, there is less greed associated with hope.  But wanting something; now, that's all greed.

2. I guess I didn't quite know the feeling of true hope until freshman year.  A close friend of mine was struggling with suicide.  We all did everything we could to help her, but over weekends, all you can do is hope.  You hope her family will realize what is going on; hope that she knows how much you care about her; and you hope that you will see her Monday.  These feelings of hope make you realize how much you care about someone or something.  If the feeling becomes strong enough, it becomes your reality.

3. Hope is that feeling when you want everything to turn out for the best, no matter what.  Expectations for the fantastic results of events are centered upon one outcome, and if that outcome becomes impossible, hope is lost.

4. Usually, to egg on this feeling of hope, something of importance needs to be at stake.  You, then, want a certain outcome to occur.  This want turns into need, quite stronger and more dramatic.  Then, if you feel strongly enough about the event, this need transforms into hope.  Hope is the most mighty of the feelings.  Once hope comes, it doesn't disappear unless the outcome is achieved...or the outcome is made impossible.  Then all hope is lost.   

5. Okay, so you really want something, but you know it won't happen.  However, you ask your parents anyways.  You're mom responds with a 'maybe!' Oh no.  Hope is triggered at this point.  There's no turning back now.  You've avoided the dreaded 'NO.'  So, now in your mind, that maybe is a yes.  You don't stop hoping for that moment when your wish is granted.  But, after repeated begging, you're parents tell you no.  Now your hope has fallen to the floor, rolled around in circles, and fallen down that vent.  It's lost. Probably forever.  Leaving you with a temporary depressed feeling.  Uh oh.

6. You're heart begins to ache.  Yes, actually ache for something to happen.  What you hope for starts to be the only idea in you head all day.  During that test, you have no concentration, except on that one event.  It takes over your life.  Everything you do reminds you of that, and you transform into a walking shipwreck.  What you hope for better happen soon, or you'll explode.  It basically eats you alive, until, the opposite happens.  After that happens, you sink into darkness.  All hope has vanished, leaving you to deal with the effects.

HAVE FUN GUESSING. (insert an excited emoticon here)

Shifting Standards

People are always saying how standards have changed. And when you hear this, you nod your head in agreement, but don't really add anything.  But, bloggers, now take time to think about these standards.  Think about a girlfriend.  What was she expected to do back fifty years ago?  Women had that Donna Reed role in the relationship.  Now, what are girls expected to do? In attempt to keep this a G- rating, I'll refrain from specifics.  But it's crazy, actually.  I don't understand why.  Was this shift spiked by the demands of males, or was it the desperate actions of women as they search for some guy that will seem to NEED them?  Either one of those makes our society seem icky.  If men have managed to objectify women to the point where they have no choice in what they do, because if they don't agree upon these things, no boy will want them, that is honestly pathetic.  But if girls are sooo desperate to be willing to do these things to find a boy, it is just as much their fault as the males.  As long as women agree to conform to these standards, nothing will change.  Nothing at all.  It will just get worse, and more demanding. I'm pretty sure no female out there wants that.  We just want a loving relationship, for the most part.  But if to get that, we think giving hand jobs, and more to the guy will make him become that loving partner, we're crazy.  Obviously something has to change.  Fast.

OMG, this is, like, so, like, legit. (Slang, Colliquial Language, and Popular Expressions)

When I think about language today, I mean really think about it, I kind of cringe.  Comparing the way we use words and phrases today, to how we used them five, twenty, or one hundred years ago is crazy.  Everything is different.  I mean, for one thing, there is basically an entire new language. You've probably heard someone utter the phrase "beeteedubs" or "ohemgee".  Obviously these came from the 'texting language'.  In my opinion, these...words... should stay in the texting world and not be used in speech.  Even then, these are examples of the massive change in speaking and writing style.  Fifteen years ago, an email to a friend would have been sent, with formal language, as if you were writing a letter.  I find this to be much more polite.  Behind the screen on a computer or phone, people become more confident that they can say whatever they want.  People can be as mean or impolite as they want, without being in fear that they will be in trouble.  Well, not right that second anyway.  This certainty behind the screen leads to uncertainty in person.  We aren't really sure how to act, which, in my opinion leads to the overuse of some words, such as 'um' and 'like'.  I know I use both of these words constantly, and I also know that I shouldn't.  Half of the conversations today are pointless.  They are mixtures of these words, along with others, that have no reason or point in the various contexts they are used in. Seriously.  Think back to your most recent conversation; I'm certain 'um' was used at least five times, if not more.  And did it make any difference in the dialogue? Except to make either speaker seem more unsure of themselves?  Credibility is challenged with every word we choose to use.  Almost every word that our society overuses destroys part of that credibility.  I'll list some of these: um, like, totally, sooo, actually, super, very.  I'm sure every one of you, along with myself, have used every single one of these multiple times.  That just shows how much our society has changed.  We all know these things damage our credibility, but does that stop us? No. Not at all.  Everyone uses 'em so we ALL continue to use these very colloquial, pointless words.  We just all wanna fit in.  Hey bloggies, if you want examples, just reread the last 400 words or so--you'll see what I mean.

Greed kills.

I've decided that people are needy.  Basically, we're never satisfied with what we have.  Ever.  You can blame it on the fact that we're humans all you want, but that's just not an excuse. Think back so something you've really wanted. Not just sorta wanted it.  Like you would DIE if you didn't get it.  Then think about what happens the days after you get it.  Let's see. The day you get it, you are obsessed with it. Let's say it's a new game on your phone. (even though you most likely wouldn't be dying to get that...) But that first day, you play that game about twenty billion times.  It is your life.  Then the next day comes.  You play it a few times, but not even half as much as the day before.  In the next few days, you maybe play the game once or twice.  Fast forward a week, and you never play the game.  You really don't care that you got the game anymore.  It's old news.  Now you want something else.  This seriously happens with everything in life.  It gets really annoying if you start to realize it.  Everything is taken for granite now.  We don't get the fact that we're so lucky to be able to get what we want when we want it.  I know I'm guilty of this.  I also know that it's hard to stop acting this way.  It happened tonight to me.  I realized I could have the thing I'd wanted for such a long time, but now that I have it, I really don't want it anymore.  It's not important, and I seem to have moved on to something else.  It's a horrible habit. But it is a habit no matter how bad. I wish I could be happy with the one thing I want.  To be able to be satisfied and not just want more.  But that's not how it works.  I'm way too greedy. Me and the rest of our country, and a lot of the world are the same.  We all continue to utter the words more. more. more.