Thursday, March 13, 2014

Niels Bohr

Ahem,

Never has a man influenced physics so profoundly as Niels Bohr in the early 1900's.
Going back to this time period, little was known about atomic structure; Bohr set out
to end the obscurity of physics. However, things didn't come easy for Bohr. He had to
give up most of his life for physics and research of many hypothesis. But, this is why
you and I have even heard of the quantum theory and atomic structures. Bohr came
up with his quantum theory while studying at Cambridge. Bohr was a skeptic and he
never truly believed in Max Planck's old quantum theory. He put forth the idea that,
going from one high-energy orbit to a lower one, an electron could, in fact be trying
to emit a quantum of discrete energy. Bohr was criticized for this idea, but he didn't
let up. Soon after, Bohr said his famed quote, "If quantum mechanics hasn't shocked
you, you haven't understood it yet." This quote is extremely famous and has gone
down as the motto for quantum physicists around the world. Understandably, Bohr
never won a Nobel Prize outside of physics (of which he only won one). Bohr's still
going strong with his theories on atomic structure; he allowed for hundreds of scientists
to fully experiment with the cell and its many components. Bohr was largely on the
run from the Nazis when he came up with this discovery, which is amazing because
around this time, Bohr's home country of Denmark was invaded by the Nazis. Bohr
and Ernest Rutherford are given credit, but it is believed that Rutherford decided to
desert Bohr in the middle of their work. Rutherford once, quite famously said that
you should never bet against the wonders of science. Niels Bohr's famous career
never really kicked off until he was forty years old. Most other major scientists were
going all over the world with their ideas by their early twenties. However, in order
to preserve the legacy of Niels Bohr, he has his own institution, whose goal is to
make many more great strides in the field of physics for years. How did Bohr affect
you and me? Without Niels Bohrs' more advanced atomic theory, we might as well
cry over how little we know of the atoms and their compounds. Physics would have
never been such a force in today's society. However, to this day, research is still
going on to improve and update the atomic theory. Although scientists clearly want
to improve oh Bohr's ideas will never be improved upon, todays society cannot say
goodbye to an opportunity to improve our understanding of the sciences. If Bohr
never had silenced his critics, we would still be following Planck's theories, and
going on incomplete information. Bohr's later life was all occupied when he decided
to go back to Denmark and head the Royal Danish Academy. His main goal was to
tell the world of the greatness of the Danish Sciences and most likely to educate
a new crop of scientists for years to come. There is controversy surrounding Bohr's
lie during his stint in the Manhattan project. Though he claimed to be anti-violence
and a peace-seeker, Bohr engineered on the Manhattan Project. Though he didn't
hurt anyone directly, thousands of people died. Niels Bohr opened many doors for
you and I in the physics world, and he will go down as one of the greatest physicists. 


You folks just got Rick Rolled while learning about physics. You're welcome.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The candycanes will wreck y'all's bowels

(Update 3/12/14): I wrote most of this Monday morning, and it is now Wednesday afternoon.

Hello friends. I have realized something about this blog of mine. I started it because I wanted to write a bunch of funny short stories that people could either relate to or laugh at. And instead, I've been using is as my own personal diary. I apologize for that, I will try my very hardest to start writing more short stories. That being said, lets talk about my weekend.

My weekend, was one of the best weekends of my entire life; and I am not exaggerating. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

I had a date with my best friend turned love interest, Hanna. I didn't make reservations anywhere, I didn't even know where I was going to take her. So I said to myself "maybe it would be more personal if I invited her over to my apartment and cooked for her." I know that my cousin/roommate wouldn't be home, so I went for it. Let me preface this by saying, I wanted to impress her when she came over. I'm not exaggerating when I say I spent 3-4 hours cleaning the ENTIRE apartment. Suffice to say, this place looked like I had just moved in it was so clean. She came over and I attempted to cook something from scratch that I had never even cooked before: jambalaya. She sat at the bar area and we talked about school, work, family, tv shows, a whole litany of things while I cooked. Not to toot my own horn, but the food came out perfect. Now, brace yourself for what I am about to say. I have cooked for girls before, and they aren't very good at hiding the fact that they didn't like my cooking. They take a few bites and suddenly "they aren't hungry anymore." I swear to you that when I say I ate one plate of jambalaya and Hanna ate three plates, I am not lying. NO girl would eat three plates of shitty food just to avoid hurting my feelings. She enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching her scarf it down like a homeless person. After that, we just shot the shit and watched tv, I had some beer and she had some wine. Poor girl must not watch much tv. I introduced her to House of Cards, True Detective, Dexter, and Whose Line is it Anyway? We pretty much talked the entire time so I'm not sure how much information she retained from the shows, but whatever. After that, it was very late. I walked her to her car, we hugged, and she drove home.

Saturday, we decided to go out and do stuff, despite the shitty weather. I didn't have money to shop, but I guess you could say I went shopping with her. We went and saw The Grand Budapest Hotel (amazing movie, go see it), we went to the Dallas World Aquarium, went bowling, and then went to The Boiled Owl for a while. Now, before you ask, I should address something. I mainly take pictures of 2 things: my son and my dogs. That's it. When I'm out with friends, I don't take pictures. Because they rarely do either. I just enjoy the moment. With each day, I grow more frustrated with social media because it's turned into a place where people try to impress other people. Honestly, how much fun are you actually having if you're on facebook, bragging about how much fun you're having? And why are you taking a million pictures? You're at a bar taking pictures of you and your group, who are you trying to impress? And who would be impressed by that? No one. No one cares. I know I had fun this weekend, when I was with Hanna, I had completely forgotten that I even had my phone on me, because neither of us used our phones the entire time we were together. And Hanna doesn't even use social media, so why should I?

Anyway, we didn't hang out Sunday, which was kind of sad. She had to work most of the day and I didn't really have any spending money either. We just texted some, whenever she had the chance. We aren't dating. We didn't kiss at all this weekend, even though I think if I went in for it, she wouldn't have been surprised or disgusted or whatever. Do you ever get that sixth sense about these kind of things? Like, I could sense that she wanted to kiss (I think) but we didn't, and neither of us brought it up. The truth is, and I'm not embarrassed to say this, I am afraid to officially ask her out to be my girlfriend. Because she is my best friend and I don't want to lose her. If I ask her out and she says no, it will not only ruin our friendship, but it will break my heart. And things will never be the same ever again. I'm also afraid of putting a label on it. Because if she were to say yes, then it's defined. And I don't know if either of us are ready for that right now. Meeting each other's families, spending all our free time together, moving in together. I'm confident that it would work out, I just want to be careful. Right now, I just want to have fun with her, and whatever happens, happens.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Can hardly contain myself

Man, I nailed that Spanish presentation. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it did seem like I was the ONLY one who actually put in some effort to not only my powerpoint, but memorizing my whole speech. I was the only who didn't say "uh" during my speech. And everyone liked seeing my 5 German Shepherds.

And I can't contain my excitement because I may have found someone. I've known Hanna for almost a year now, we met in a macroeconomics class here at UTA. Funny how after being friends for a year, we're starting to like each other now. She isn't going anywhere for spring break, she has to work and has midterms RIGHT after spring break, which kind of sucks. But even then, I'm not going anywhere for spring break either. I'd rather just hang out with her every day, which we already almost do. I'm going out with her tonight, and I feel like a little boy with butterflies in my stomach. She's one of the very few people who likes me for who I am, flaws and all. And that just makes me attracted to her even more. Because I like her for who she is, too.

After this class, I have to head back to my parent's house to pick up a package sent there. Also, I want to check up on my father and my dogs. Make sure everything is okay. I guess we're at that point now where me and my sister need to start checking on them occasionally, just to make sure everything is okay. And I don't mind doing that at all. Taking care of 5 German Shepherds is just like taking care of 5 little kids. Except one (Lexi) is practically still a baby.

Anyway, I'm happy, man. I nailed my midterms, I've got a really awesome best friend who likes me, great friends, and great families. I even downloaded a shitload of movies (Gravity, 12 Years a Slaves, Dallas Buyers Club, etc.) to watch this weekend with Hanna. I'm very excited, can't wait for what the future brings.


Saturday, March 1, 2014

Happy Helix Day!

So, while I've got a moment, I'd like to catch the very few people (if any) up on current and future affairs. Next week is Mid-Terms, and the week after that is Spring Break. So I probably will not have any time to blog during the next two weeks, so allow me to unload everything now.

I finished my story!
"What? You've been writing a story?"
"Yes, idiot, where have you been?"

Okay, that was a little mean. Truth is, I've only told a select few people that I've been working on a short story for the past month. And honestly? I don't want to talk about it until it's finished. Because when I try to describe my story to people, it's incredibly hard to explain. Because it's not my story, it's our story. Mine and a roughly ~40 million people's story. Did I lose you? Good. Here's all I can say about it right now:

It's a story about a boy named Red. Red does not control himself. Red is controlled by anywhere between 1-125,000 people at any given time.

And that's all I can say! I know, it sounds stupid, but give a chance you assholes. Last night, I officially "finished" the story. And to be honest, it felt very strange. Why? Because I didn't want it to end. I had grown emotionally attached to this story for a month. I didn't want to stop writing it. I couldn't even sleep last night because I couldn't believe that it was finished. Even now, I'm paranoid that the ending wasn't fulfilling enough. That I rushed it. But just because the story is "finished" doesn't mean it's "complete". Does that make sense? I kind of have a sloppy writing process, this story is most likely riddled with spelling and punctuation errors. Syntax and formatting errors. And Christ, I haven't even started working on the illustrations yet. That's not true, I've got a few pictures but not many. I'm going to try and completely finish this story by the end of spring break at the latest. There are certain people that I am very excited to share this with.

Moving on to some other shit. I don't sleep well. Hanna (a girl) remarked that I always look tired. That I always have bags under my eyes. Well Hanna (same girl), it's true. I have bad sleeping habits, I wake up early and go to bed late. I very rarely take naps. I walk a few miles a day, sometimes I stay out late with friends. Or sometimes, I just stay up late studying or reading, what college kid hasn't had an all-nighter at the library before? Anyway, I'd like to change that. I'm tired of being tired. What's more, I'm tired of people telling me I look tired because I'm tired. No shit.

Uh what else? I was supposed to have plans over spring break. But it turns out I have no money lol. I mean, I have money. How else would I pay for rent, child support, and groceries? I don't really have any spending money. Not enough to go on vacation, even for a few days. And I don't really care that I don't have plans for spring break. Those of you who are going away for spring break, have fun! Really, I'm not bitter in that way. I want other people to have fun and enjoy their time off. Me? I'm going to be working! Hard labor type shit, like replacing an entire fence by myself. Nothing wrong with that, I need the money. And cleaning out some garages that badly need to be cleaned out. Like, these are the garages that should have been cleaned out a decade ago, but it's only gotten worse since then. Other than that, just take it day by day. Hang out with people who stayed behind and we can do boring shit together like play Nintendo 64 games. Honestly, I don't know what I would do with a sudden vast amount of money to spend on whatever I want. I guess I would buy a few new clothes, maybe some new shoes. When you walk to school every day, after a while, the soles on your already old shoes just get obliterated. and Dr. Scholls insoles can only help so much. And the speakers in my car are starting to make that clicking noise. I guess after 13 years of blaring loud, bass-driven music, any speakers will start to disintegrate. So I might get a cheap sound system put in. They'll probably get stolen though, so what's the point?

Anything else? I don't even have a full time job and I feel like I'm busy all the time. I have a kind-of part time job (hard to explain, don't ask) but even then, it doesn't take up a lot of my time. So what's my point? The point is, for a very long time, I've been making time for only certain people. BUT (I guess after I had finished my silly story last night) I had a revelation. I've been making time for people who don't deserve my time. And I've been not making time for people who do deserve my time. It's hard to accept that that's just the way things have been for so long, and it feels weird to think any other way. Humans are creatures of habit. We don't like to change our daily routines. I am no exception, there are some people who don't return the kindness or attention that I give them, and there are certain people that are still friends with me, even when I always tell them "nah, I don't want to hang out" time after time again. So pretty much, I'm done putting up with people's shit lol.

Of course, I'm not talking to any one specific person or group in this blog. Mainly, I'm just talking to myself. The main purpose of this blog is for myself. Organizing my thoughts in a more appropriate way than just yelling or venting at someone when something is on my mind. Ever since high school, I've lost a lot of friends because I didn't make a conscious effort to keep in touch with them or whatever. After I quit working at Best Buy, I did a better job at keeping a lot of my friends who I worked with. To this day, I am still good friends with a lot of them, and I keep in touch with them regularly. And today, even after I changed majors, I am still friends with most of my business major comrades. I intend on making new Criminal Justice friends in the future, but there's no rush.

The group of friends I have right now are great. Seriously, if any of you ever actually read this, I sincerely thank you for keeping me sane and being there for me when I need you. I would be lost without you guys (and girls). (And this part is just for myself) And for those of you that I used to be friends with but am no longer acquainted with, I'm sorry. Sorry that we got out of touch and stopped being friends. It was nothing personal (well, maybe on a few occasions), that's just what happens when two people walk two completely different paths. There's a reason why Anakin and Obi-Wan didn't stay friends (nailed it).

Ah, well I feel better now that I've typed out this long "Dear Diary" entry that, chances are, only I will ever read. But that's okay. Me and my sub-conscious talk to each other all the time, it's nice to let him out every once in a while and let his voice be heard. Now, it's bath time with my Nick (that was one letter away from being a completely different sentence)! And maybe after, we'll watch Pokemon together. It's on Netflix now apparently, and I feel the strong desire to watch the show that I was obsessed with as a child with my child. See if he likes it as much as I did.

Bye!

Friday, February 14, 2014

I am the god of my own universe.

Valentine's Day is just a scam perpetrated by the floral industrial complex. I hate valentine's day. And I'm not saying that because I'm bitter. Even if I had a girlfriend, I would probably only get her stuff because I felt obligated to do so. Wouldn't want her to feel left out, blah blah blah. But I would do so lovingly. Trust me, if I don't want to get someone something, I won't. And sometimes I just buy shit for people for no reason whatsoever other than I want to. I'm selfishly unselfish, if that makes sense. Most of the time, I would rather get someone else something than get myself something. Something about seeing the surprised look on their face just makes my insides feel warm.

I was going to have lunch with a pretty girl today, too. I think the fact that it was valentine's day and we're both single is just coincidence. I don't know if she viewed it as a "date" or not. I didn't. I look at it as lunch. We both have to eat right? Why not eat together? That kind of mentality is healthy I think. Because most women misinterpret the word "date". So I try not to use it, ever. I think the miscommunication is if you ask someone "hey, want to go on a date" they might think "oh god, he loves me." or "he just wants to have sex with me". So I just ask them if they want to get food. And don't really care if they view it as a date or not, because I sure as hell don't. As far as I'm concerned, that word isn't even in my vocabulary. Anyway, oh yeah I cancelled on her. Not cancel, postpone until next weekend. I just didn't feel like going out for lunch with a pretty girl to be honest. My mind just isn't in the right place right now. I have tests, research papers, homework, oral presentations, and a lot of personal shit going on. Hopefully by next weekend, I will be a little less stressed out. Surprisingly, she understood and didn't seem upset at all. Win.


What else? Oh yeah, I get to go to Nick's valentine's party at school today. That should be fun I suppose. Nick will be there and he's my favorite person so it shouldn't be too bad. I actually don't mind kids. I'm not crazy about kids, but I definitely don't hate kids. I suppose it should be important to look at these kids as his friends and that I should like them. And try to get to know the parents of those kids in case he gets invited to parties or something.

Anything else? I have 2 hours before the party, so I still need to go buy candy or something to bring the little children. I still need to eat (why did I cancel lunch) and do some studying for the Deviance test on Monday morning. It's supposed to be a really f*cking nice weekend weather wise. I'm just gonna sit in the backyard, study Deviance shit, listen to blues music, and watch Nick play with the dogs. Pertaining to the title of this post, I am the god of my own universe. I control my own destiny.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

I'm watching a documentary on Netflix about a serial killer from 1928 named Carl Panzram. I've always had a strange fascination with learning about serial killers. I guess because I could never see myself doing what they do. I don't regret changing my majors at all. I'm not good at math at all, so engineering wouldn't have worked out at all. And I grew to hate business, mainly because I didn't want to be stuck behind a desk my whole life. I imagine everyone I know who has desk jobs. Can you imagine sitting behind a desk and a keyboard, day after day, daydreaming and staring out the window on a bright and sunny day wishing you were outside? That's me. Also, I needed to have a career in which I directly help people. Business majors don't help people, unless you're a financial consultant or something like that (which I didn't want to be). Also, what a lot of people don't realize is that no matter what major you choose pertaining to business, you're going to be doing math. A lot of math. Whether you choose accounting, finance, economics, statistics, marketing, management, information systems, whatever. Not engineering level mathematics, but enough to make me think to myself "I don't want to do math my entire life. I need to choose a major that makes me happy, not one that has a good salary." When I changed my major to Criminal Justice, I didn't look at salaries. Not until the day before I told my family, because I knew they would ask "How much do _______ make?" They weren't angry or upset at my changing of majors. They support me and want me to do what makes me happy. However, when I told them I wanted to be a detective, they started giving me flack. They're worried that I'm going to be killed. We could all be killed every single day, just by getting in our cars and driving to work. You can't have that mindset that "something bad might happen" otherwise, you would never leave your house. My dad wants me to be a Game Warden or a Park Ranger, which I'm not against. My mom and sister want me to be a paralegal, which I have considered. However, paralegals are stuck behind a desk all day, doing research for cases that lawyers take to court. So while you're staying up all night writing a report, the lawyers get all the glory. I'm not against it, its just not what I want to do at this point in time. I want to help people. I want to make the world a better place, if I can. I want my son to tell all his friends at school that his daddy is a police officer. I want people to be proud of me. And I don't think that there's anything wrong with that. I don't care about money anymore. It's more about the impact that you make on people's lives. A hundred  years from now, no one is going to remember me whether I was a cop or a marketer. So why not do what makes me happy? Why not make a direct impact on people's lives instead of trying to take their money by making stupid ads that no one cares about?

I don't have my priorities straight. But I'm trying. I'm human, I make a lot of mistakes. This isn't one of them. The important people in my life understand. Those who matter, don't mind, and those who mind, don't matter.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Cold and Diligent

It was 20 degrees when I left for school this morning. Way too damn cold, especially when I had to walk a mile to get there and a mile to get back. Upon my return to the apartment, I immediately cranked the heat up. I don't care if I have to pay a little extra $ to run the heat, I want to be warm.

Anyways, I haven't blogged for a while simply because I haven't thought much about it. It was somehow brought up in my Sociology class so I was reminded to keep up with it. I actually have several drafts that I end up never posting, probably because they're nothing but incomplete momentary thoughts and feelings. I may actually post this one.

The next couple of weeks are going to be busy busy. Lots of homework in Spanish, including a test next Wednesday along with our second Spanish diary (Mi diario, see I'm learning!). I've succeeded in making two new friends in my Spanish class, John and David. Test next week in Sociology: Deviance as well. If I feel worried it's only because he hasn't told us what is going to be on the test. "Chapters 1 through 3" doesn't really explain what we should spend the most of our study time preparing for. Do we need to know names? Dates? Theories? What? I'll just need to study for a few hours every day until the test next Friday. And then there's Criminal Investigation, probably a test in 1-2 weeks. Blue books, that should be interesting. So that's pretty much what's going on in school right now. I'm enjoying my classes for the most past, excited about Criminal Justice and where it might take me. Oh yes, I'm in the midst of writing an article, hoping to be published somewhere. The topic is Deviance in Society where I talk about the TSA, NSA, Edward Snowden, Homosexuality, Breaking Bad, Shark Week, Gun Violence, Justin Bieber, the Olympics, President Obama, Philip Seymour Hoffman, etc. I know it all seems random, but it's not. I'm sure when I finish it, I will post it here.

After re-watching 'It Might Get Loud' recently, I've decided to revamp my music library entirely. Not that I don't enjoy heavy metal, I love it. But I'm in this weird phase of listening to classic rock (mostly Led Zeppelin) and blues. Mix it a little bit of classical music with some old classics (The Temptations) and you've got one kickass playlist that will make you feel a litany of different emotions in only a few songs. Right now I'm listening to the Footloose soundtrack. Why? BECAUSE KEVIN BACON. Also, does anyone want to reenact the scene from Top Gun where they play volleyball? I love that song.

I'm going to run to the store now. Not literally, I'm going to drive. If I can think of anything to add to this, I'll put some more up later. I think I'll listen to Chopin's Nocturnes while at the store. Yes, good choice.



Edit: I went to the store earlier. Decided to listen to Bach instead of Chopin. I left at like 1:00 and didn't get back until after dark. People always want to hang out when I have other stuff I want to do. I am reaching my breaking point when it comes to my complex's shitty internet. Never, ever, use Pavlov Media as your internet provider. They fucking suck. I've called them twice telling them exactly that, and when they tell me they'll fix it, they never do. I never had this problem last year, but this year it is unbearable. When I get my new place this summer, I am going with AT&T U-verse. I don't care if I have to shell out a good bit of money for it. Paying for blazing fast internet is infinitely better than shitty, doesn't work most of the time, "complimentary" free internet. 

I guess I'll go hang out at Garry's place. I don't know if anyone else is going to be there, but his internet is really fast and his dog is cool.