A bummer of a poem

The Ultimate Nostalgia

People get Nostalgic

This is what they do

They start to miss each color

Each Place

Each thing they knew

We call this feeling Nostalgia
A fondness for the past

But does it get another name

When all that’s passed is past?

I’m scared for that Nostalgia

Where everyone must go

Because I already miss each thing

Each place

Each person that I know

I’m sad in this Nostalgia

And it hasn’t happened yet

But I can already feel my longing

For each place

Each person I’ve met

The ultimate Nostalgia,

It happens when we die

When each person,

Place,

and thing we’ve seen has gone

And we must say goodbye

We can’t escape this Nostalgia

It happens everyday

What happens when we go?

Do our memories just fade away?

I dread this Nostalgia

With words I cannot say

I refuse to die.

I refuse to go.

I refuse to fade away.

I hate this Nostalgia

My fondness for my past

It saddens me to think

That one day,

All that can pass…will pass.

CHRIST-ians

Alright, something needs to be set straight. There has been a recent outbreak in my life of what I would like to politely term, "misguided" individuals. Now, I say "misguided" because I don't think it's really their fault for being the way they are. Some other "misguided" individual probably came into their lives and sat down and said, "Son, I'm going to teach you about the bible." They didn't say anything about their daughter because back in the day when this trend of "misguidance" was started women weren't allowed to learn stuff.

Who needs an education?

However, those sons that were taught about the bible eventually decided that woman should learn too, and now we have a whole world of "misguided" individuals who are legally allowed to spawn "misguided" children. Now, I've made it this far without having to tell you about what I mean when I say "misguided" and I intend to keep it that way for a few more seconds while I gather my thoughts. So here is a picture that explains nothing of what I'm going to get into!

I was raised Catholic, and for the most part, I've remained Catholic. I do like to play around with interesting ideas of God and all that because nobody on earth can ever really know what life after death is like or exactly how God functions, and so it's entertaining and helpful to play around with different ideas of God and those sort of things. I try to be accepting of various faiths and I usually succeed because, after all, a person's faith is just one aspect of them. Even if I can't agree with their beliefs I can still find some traits and quirks that I can get along with. However, what I can't stand is people who label themselves as one thing while functioning as an entirely different thing.

This is where my term "misguided" comes in. I am referring to Christians, who call themselves Christians, but are actually people who follow in the (paper?)trail of the bible and not the footsteps of Christ, the being they are named after. Freedictionary.com defines Christian as, "Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teaching of Jesus." I have never been taught that man's word is above God's word but there seems to be a trend of Christians who put every single ounce of faith they can muster into believing that the bible is the path to God. What these same people seem to be forgetting is that Jesus clearly states that He is the way.

Pictured: The Way

I can understand some of the issue being that the bible is one of the few records we have of Jesus and his life and therefore saying it is imperfect means that our knowledge of Jesus and his life could be highly inaccurate. But would our lives and identities as Christians really be all that different if Jesus had never turned water into wine (something he most likely didn't do anyway. Even though party Jesus would have been totally cool and capable of some crazy, shall we say "divine" keggers)? What I can't agree with are the people who against all evidence remain ignorant. These are the same people that say everything comes from God but are convinced that science is trying to dupe them and destroy their faith. As an example let's look back at when Bill Nye was booed in Waco, Texas for stating that Moon reflects the Sun's light. Apparently some people took issue with Nye when he told them the Moon reflects light. One woman is reported to have said, "We believe in God!" and then stormed out with her children.

Let's take a look at that for a moment. I think it is safe to assume that that woman would call herself a Christian. Christians are supposed to follow in the life and teachings of Jesus. When does Jesus say that the moon produces its own light source? He doesn't, that is a bit in Genesis. So why do so-called Christians take that stuff so to heart? I'm not quite sure because its clearly not a first hand account documented by Adam or Eve as it was happening, which means it was passed down through generations of people. Therefore its more than likely that mistakes were made and details were left out before the story was written down. The story is most likely inaccurate but that is besides the point. If these people believe that everything comes from God, then what separates a scientific finding stating the Moon reflects light and the bible quoting God? Answer: Several thousand years. If God gave man science then science is really just an extension of religion and faith meant to update our ancestors' understanding of the functions of the world. Many of the world's first scientists were men (and women) of great faith. I just can't understand why people lock into these trends. These same people who glorify the bible will admit that man is imperfect and that his creations can never match God's. The fact they seem to overlook is that the bible was written by MEN!

Also, its been edited by men

The second issue I take with these people is that they are so non-adaptive. One change of opinion or difference in facts sets these people to war mode. Why does knowing that the Moon reflects light have to shake your faith in God? Can't it increase your wonder in the divine? Why is it so destructive to discover that God's creations can be incredible complex? If anything it should make God MORE impressive. This really marks science as a way to learn about God and not a way to refute people's faith. If science proves something in the bible as false, then it shouldn't be an act of war, it should be an evolution of what we once knew, to what we now know and each step can take us closer to God. God created all of these complex processes, humans had to discover them in order to even know that they existed.

A whole lot of "we don't know...yet"

My final issue is that literally none of the above stuff should even matter. If Jesus didn't turn water into wine, (again, sweet parties) if Jesus didn't cure the sick (which he totally could have done) it doesn't matter. He was still a revolutionary thinker. Love your enemy? Turn the other cheek? In a world where violence was routine and expected here was a guy who was teaching people how to make things better. His advice for these people? Follow in his footsteps because he is the way. Why have people seemed to forget that? I had a woman tell a friend of mine the other week that she couldn't quote the bible because she didn't believe in the bible. Since when has that applied...ever?

My final thoughts on the subject is that all of those people who claim to be Christians but only believe unflinchingly in the bible either need to stop being labelled as Christians, because they make the rest of the Christians look bad; or they need to have some separate denomination given to them so that others know exactly what they are dealing with, like Mormons, or Lutherans, or Catholics. If someone says I'm a Christian and I believe in the bible that sends a totally different message than saying, "If you don't believe in the bible you are going to hell." Which sadly, is something I've had a Christian say to me. Let's get away from all of the hate that the bible can inspire and get back on track with love. Its tough, but if we just follow Jesus's teachings we can get a little closer.

Infinity

Hey there loyal readers...erm... loyal reader...anyone?

Whatever...

I sat down to write a simple reflection paper for one of my classes today and it turned out being what I can only concede as a transformative moment. You know, one of those moments professors are always hoping you will have in their class?

transFORMATIVE, not transFORMER

Well I had one.

We are reading this book, Encountering God, by Diana Eck, which I hope is her name otherwise I will probably fail that paper. It isn't a book that preaches about God or what people should believe. Rather, it is a book about how God exists in other faiths and cultures and one woman's journey that takes her through all of these fascinating topics and ideas. One of these ideas, which I chose to reflect on, was this idea awareness. It had a Hindu preface to it but I can't remember the exact wording and it was very wise sounding.

Like this guy

The whole concept of this awareness is that when you have this experience you suddenly are alert to some...thing that you can't comprehend and yet you know that it is everywhere all the time. Almost anybody with any kind of religious background will jump in and say, "well of course, it's God." To which I'd respond, "it's my epiphany let me tell it."

Then I'd stick my tongue out and pull their hair

Except I think I'm a little smarter than that kid so I'd come across more like this...

Yeah, take it all in

What I'm getting at are the human senses. As it turns out humans have way more than the five they were taught about as kids. For more on other things you were taught that are wrong you can click HERE. Humans have a sense of time, along with a sense of space. That is why you know how far you have to throw that book to hit the light switch and shut off the light without getting out of bed. That is also why you will be aware that you have wasted more time getting out of bed to get the book and try again than if you had just missed once and shut off the light when you got up. Now generally this works pretty standard. When you enter a room you get a basic sense of how big it is and how much time you have spent in it. This is because you can see the limits of the room (its walls and ceiling) and the time is restricted to a small scale.

Now let's put me out in an open field at night. I have a harder time telling how big the field is because its dark and its boundaries are not clearly defined. This lack of spacial awareness also affects my sense of time because space and time are part of the same fabric (says Albert Einstein)

I still haven't reached the difficult part yet because even though its dark, I can make out a horizon. Because of the horizon I still have some sense of space and therefore time. Now, I look up at the starry night sky. If I look up I lose track of the horizon and suddenly it doesn't seem like I'm standing on the earth now. It simply seems like I am surrounded by space. Now, as I look up and see the countless stars a realization comes to me. I stare at those stars and they seem so close, like if I just tried hard enough I could reach out and touch one (and then burst into flames because most stars are really freaking hot). But I know that I can't because those stars are so far away that it took millions of my lifetimes for their light to reach me. As a matter of fact, it took so long for their light to reach me that they could already be gone. I gaze up and it seems like I can see the very darkest places of space, but I can't see what is really there because I'm only human. I am not the Hubble Space telescope.

Look through all of those pictures and the Hubble story is at the end. For more on astounding space things that will give you a sense of awe click HERE.

Did that give you a sense of scale? According to the big bang theory, the universe is forever expanding. Meaning it is getting bigger forever. Now, as I am laying in that field looking up at the night sky, I try to grasp these immense distances and these incomprehensible amounts of time, and I can't, I just can't do it. I can't wrap my head around infinity. I keep trying though and slowly I am filled with this overwhelming sense. Maybe its just gas, but I try to fart and get nothing so that can't be it. The more I stare up into the infinite reaches of space and time the more aware I become of this feeling. My senses have slowly become attuned to feel this incomprehensible time and space. The reason it is overwhelming is because none of my senses know what infinity is. Sure we all know that it means something that goes on forever, but really try to grasp that concept in your head, try to picture forever.

As a human I have a sense of space and time and now my senses are trying to come to terms with infinity. Something they can't do. The interesting idea is that this infinity is always present, but we get distracted in our daily lives by so many different things. All of these things distract our senses. I can connect this to religion by using Jesus. There is a famous story when Jesus tells a rich man that he should give away all of his possessions so that he can become closer to God. Without all of his distractions he can become more attuned to God. The concept is the same. The infinity is always there, surrounding us all the time. We just have to take time adjust to it and to get in tune with it.

The second part of my transformative experience has to do with me. I am aware of this infinite but I am also aware myself on this scale. To put it bluntly, I don't even exist on this scale. I don't even matter in the tiniest bit. There are no words to accurately describe my insignificance. To compare myself to an ant would be an enormous understatement. I am so small in comparison to infinity. Many people might find this idea a little difficult to handle. After all, when was the last time you were told you didn't matter and it was actually true? That could be very depressing, to think that no matter what you do it doesn't matter. To me this is a comforting idea. It doesn't mean that I don't have to work, or that I should give up my goal of having a family and providing them with the best life possible. It just means that no matter how badly I fail at anything or how great I succeed, the universe will just keep on going.

All of this, these weird ideas, these insane distances and times, all of it doesn't stress me out, it just gives me this incredible calm.

Gods and Aliens

Well now, it has been such a long time since I last posted that I think my clothes went out of style.

Not a bad thing

Since my last post I've done much thinking (bad thing) about worldly things and spiritual things. This is probably going to be a more of a vomit post, not that it will smell and cause other people to also make random blog posts, but rather, it will basically be me pouring my thoughts and belief (most of them of a religious nature) out onto this electronic page. If anyone reads this they are welcome to dispute or converse in a civil manner any of my ideas that conflict with their own and if I've led my life well it should be most of them.

Let the brain puking begin!

1. Ignorance and Hate

A while back I was playing a game online and I was talking with some people and enjoying myself when I eventually ended up chatting to a different group of people with vastly different views on the world. This particular group of people were outlandishly racist. Now here is the thing about racism and me. I have heard and retold many of the racist jokes and such but I've never actually come across any single person who legitimately hated another person simply because they were different. So I couldn't really say for sure if these people were extremely racist compared to other racists but they came across as super racist to me. Kind of like trying to explain colors to a person who has been blind all their life. I knew all those colors existed but I had never really experienced some of them.

There's just so many

Lame metaphors aside, this was an eye opening experience for me. These people made some outrageous claims, among them was the claim that president Obama was completely responsible for the state the economy was in. Now, I'm not a huge Obama fan (See previous post) because of

the whole universal healthcare, which puts people like me and my family in charge of taking care of all the lazy people who won't get a job. I don't hate Obama for it and I don't hate any of the people that will inevitably take advantage of the program. Universal healthcare is basically a whore with a heart of gold. There will be the people who are responsible with it and then there will be the people who abuse it until it becomes the kind of decrepit money system the tax system and social security programs have become.

The future...is still kind of hot?

Digression over, I couldn't fathom how these people were able to completely convince themselves that Obama was completely responsible for the economy when it is a generally understood fact that the economy turned bad during Bush's administration. I'm sure that if I had cited that fact they would have had some sort of information or conspiracy theory that refuted it, but I was just so astounded by it that I was at a loss for words. This all leads me to my point.

I can't understand how someone can be that blind to the truth. I'm not saying that I am receptive to the truth, whatever form it may take, and anyone who knows me will tell you the same. But when the truth walks up to you spins you around and then karate chops you across the face you can't just stand their and wonder where that immensely powerful gust of wind just came from and why your face suddenly feels like Chuck Norris just looked at you funny, you have to drop your pride and notice that YOU WERE WRONG!

The truth

It also happens to be completely ludicrous to hate someone based entirely on their looks or differences. Just because someone looks different or has differences does not make them a lesser or worse person than anyone else. This can be evidenced by the fact that despite all the hate these people had for Obama he was clearly better than them. He was the president of one of the most powerful countries in world and they were a bunch of shmucks who I took excessive pleasure from beating in Call of Duty.

This also applies to such topics like religion and science. I had one of my good friends tell me that he once knew (or heard of, can't remember which) a man who was absolutely convinced that the the universe and earth were created in exactly seven days (technically six) and that dinosaurs never existed. Now you might be tempted to shout to yourself, because face it, if you're reading this no one else is around and all the doors are locked, what about all the fossils and such that prove their existence?! Well, he had a perfectly reasonable and well thought out explanation for them. They were all put their by God to test mankind's faith. Apparently God is less like this:

and more like this:

Sounds to me like God is out to trick all of mankind into believing totally made up evidence so that he can deny most of us from heaven. It's not my belief on the matter, but its the interpretation I draw from the beliefs of that man.

Or how about when Bill Nye was booed off stage in Texas? Bill Nye was booed off stage in Waco, Texas upon stating that the "lesser light" was not actually a light, but instead reflected the greater light's light. Several people stormed out and one lady yelled, "we believe in God." To which I'd like to respond, congratulations how is that relevant and thank you for proving that Texas is at least partially as backwards as I like to believe it is. Let's examine the bible for a moment. It is a book. The stories within are very old. It was WRITTEN by men. It also MOST LIKELY contains old superstitions similar to those that lightning was actually thrown by a toga wearing humanoid who would routinely turn into various animals and have sex with human women.

Thrower of lighting, charmer of women

This leads at least me to believe that actually thought the moon produced its own light, which was a reasonable belief...AT THE TIME. We are now damn certain that the moon does not produce its own light because two very basic things would happen if it did. The first and most obvious is that we'd all have been completely incinerated and the second is that it would be a whole lot brighter during the night than during the day.

I think two examples is enough, next topic.

2. God

Oh SNAP! Now I've gone and done it. I'm going to talk about my thoughts on God and any random person who reads this is either A) going to tell me I'm going to hell B) try and preach to me C) reassure themselves that their beliefs are the only right ones D) receive my ideas thoughtfully and civilly.

So here is to my soul not being eternally condemned to torture!

I'm rather grown now. I've almost completed college and I'm well on my way to graduate school. With this has come some experience and some thoughts to try and hog tie those experiences into something meaningful. Firstly, I would like to say that I classify myself as a Deist. For those of you who may be unclear on that term, a deist is a person who believes that God created the universe and the other stuff (earth) and then retreated into his god lounge to watch his perfect creation run perfectly forever. This version of God is most often likened to a clock maker, since a clock maker creates a clock and then sets it to run primarily on its own and require only slight interventions to maintain proper work.

The universe to a deist

I changed my classification to deist during my senior year of high school. The reason for this change was because I could not understand how an all powerful, ever present, all loving God would let bad things happen to so many good people while the truly evil seemed to flourish. Many people like to reassure themselves that God has a plan and that innocent deaths and unpunished evil are all part of the plan. I HATE that. I don't hate the people that believe it, but I hate that idea. In my mind a good plan by a supreme God who really loves his creations and is involved daily does not allow for the good people to die or have terrible tragedies plague their lives. So it made more sense to me that God was still there but he took more of a passive role in earth's happenings.

Then I ran into a problem during college of rationalizing how an all powerful, all loving, always present being could just sit on the side lines like a disinterested coach whose team clearly needs his help.

He's just chilling

I then had a thought. Any of you good Catholics out there will know it's a terrible one. What if God wasn't all knowing or all powerful? God not being all loving didn't cross my mind, mainly due to the Old Testament. (Some of that stuff is terrifying) If God wasn't all knowing then he wasn't aware that good people were suffering and that greedy and selfish people were flourishing. If God wasn't all powerful then he at least knew about the situation but wasn't able to help all of the good people who needed Him. This still didn't make complete sense because a being who can create the universe is certainly powerful enough to both watch over and protect his creations. I was struggling with it for the longest time, then I went and played Assassin's Creed.

You might scoff (fancy word bonus) at me for adopting the ideas of a video game, but let me remind you that all forms of art have been influencing people since they were first encountered. The big thing here was that HUGE SPOILER in Assassin's Creed the gods are super advanced beings (probably from space) that created man in their image. They weren't all knowing or all powerful but they were more advanced than their creations. Just like I am more advanced than a hammer, or a fork.

Not a spork though, that reigns supreme

Granted, none of those objects can think and act on their own, and I didn't invent any of them because I still eat mainly with my fingers because damnit; its easier. But how long will it be before humans are fully cloned? We have been creating life ever since we were created, it just took a man and woman. Now, it only takes a sperm, an egg, and several tubes of varying size. If we went to a planet and started life it would most certainly be in OUR image. This simple video game provided me with at least part of an answer that I had been searching for. Our creator or creators did not let the good suffer by choice, but because they could not be everywhere at once to take care of us. So he, or they, gave us all the traits we needed initially and the ability to make our own decisions and then watched us grow up.

Its not a solid theory but let's argue and I'm almost certain I could prove that no theory involving God or gods is. I admit, this sounds outlandish and most people laugh when I suggest that God could quite possibly be a super advanced alien, but it makes the most sense to me and quite frankly it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else. It also isn't set in stone. I was raised Catholic, back in medieval times I would have been excommunicated, maybe killed for my current beliefs. But I came to these beliefs through a process and I know that the process isn't done because I'm still alive. I have a great many more experiences in store and I'm sure they will lead me in new directions with my beliefs.

So for now, here is a funny cat picture.

America, the Land of the Lazy

Anybody who lives anywhere knows that America kicks ass. If you live in America you know it kicks ass, if you live anywhere else you most likely hate America because it thinks it kicks ass. Well let me tell you as an American I am extremely proud of my country. When the National Anthem plays I swell up with pride and when I see a great big American flag waving in the wind I can't help but smile.

However, there is one thing that manages to infuriate me every time I think about it. That thing is the sad state of the legislature that has been getting passed. By this I mean Government run healthcare and Welfare. Good programs on paper; atrocious in practice. Every time I think about these programs and some of the types of people that take advantage of them it infuriates me.

and IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!

Here is a more professional statement on the same topic. None of those reasons really explain what infuriates me the most about either of these government run programs. I know that other government run healthcare programs are basically crap, but what enrages me beyond nine thousand is that other people abuse these programs for no other reason than they are lazy as shit.

Pictured: other people

Let me recap an argument that I had with someone once upon a time that exemplifies exactly the kind of horse shit attitude that explains the sad state that America has fallen into.

1: Every other civilized country in the World has it.

Check this out. I consulted Wikipedius, God of Knowledge, and He answered me with that. Now you will notice that not every civilized country in the world is on that list. Mainly because that statement is an exaggeration meant to imply some sort of commonality that all countries must have in order to be civilized. Now, attacking that statement by showing that not all civilized countries have universal healthcare is dumb and childish. I would like to present a stronger argument. Let's talk bandwagons.

Not this kind

Remember back in the 8th grade when that old dude or dudette came and spoke to your class about drugs and such even though it was clear that this person was the absolute worst choice for the job? Kind of like hiring a convicted child pornographer to work at a Sears photo studio.

Among other poor decisions

This is the same concept. Just because everyone else is doing it does not mean that America has to do it. If England and France started having unprotected sex with Germany would America have to join in? Even though I hear that Germany is pretty kinky in the sack. Arguing that America has to get universal healthcare because other civilized countries have it is not a political, economical, or even logical point to make. However, me making this argument does nothing now that Universal Healthcare has already been passed. This leads me to my next point of rage.

2: I don't know what its like to not have insurance

True, I don't know what it is like to not have insurance, but if anyone is interested I would like to also point out that the reason for that is because my parents always busted their asses to provide stuff like that. My parents worked. The funny thing is that the person who was making these outrageous arguments against me had TWO parents (science says that's twice as good as one), and neither of them worked in any kind of job that provided insurance. It wasn't a matter of circumstance that deprived this person of insurance it was laziness. Why bother working to earn money or insurance when there are ways to get the government to just GIVE it to you. Now, argue with me for a moment. Argue that jobs that provide insurance are pretty difficult and very time consuming for someone who is also trying to support three children. First, how can you support 3 children when you don't work to bring in any substantial income? Second, let me provide you with a short list of about 13 jobs that damn near anyone can have that provide insurance. CLICK HERE. You should notice that this isn't a professional compilation of any sorts, but look at some of the numbers. Just 20 hours at Starbucks earns you health benefits! I live on a campus right down the street from a Little Caesars and they provide health benefits. A FREAKIN GREETER AT WALMART GETS BENEFITS.

She is smiling because SHE has coverage

So basically anyone can EARN insurance. That's the thing though, earning things seems to be too difficult a concept for people in American these days; not everyone though, there are still millions of hardworking people, which raises my next point...

3: Where does the money come from?

Universal health care requires that everybody pay into a fund that sick people can use whenever they want. Everyone has full coverage, that's the meaning of universal after all; even those people that are unemployed, disabled, or too old to work. What do those people pay? Here is the average cost,roughly, of a doctor's visit. It could range anywhere from 60$ to 5,000$. That is a substantial amount of money to consider if 9.6% of Americans are unemployed. I'm not going to do the math for you because math is stupid, but here are the numbers (you can do the math yourself) there are about 311 million people in America and the unemployment rate is 9.6%... enjoy. Whatever that number you got multiply it by something between 60 and 5,000. Big number right? So who gets to cover that? Read this. Now laugh at the stupidity of the person who posed the first question. But ponder the answer. The taxes go up and therefore the people with a taxable income have to pay it. What do the people who don't have any source of income pay? NOTHING! This means that the person I was arguing with can use all the doctor's visits that are needed and they don't have to put shit back into the system for it.

Not being put back into the system

This is why America has become the Land of the Lazy. The laziest people in this country are now just being given things. Why is it that the US is rewarding behavior that is detrimental to everything this country stands for? Why not reward the hardworking middle class? The vast majority of the country that suits up everyday and busts their ass to provide for themselves and their families. The people who have pride in their work and are shamed by being given handouts. What happen to the pride in this country? How is it that so many people have lost their sense of shame? It seems like the wealthy in this country are content to let those financially below them squirm while the extremely lazy, and therefore poor, are content, even proud, to have their livings just given to them. Sadly this will be the way it will be for eternity it seems, because the working class is made up of people who take pride in working hard and these people shoulder up the nation everyday and go out and work to make this country a great place. The only problem is that the lazy and shameless don't have the spine, the guts, or the courage to carry their own weight.

That lack of shame and taking pride in a prideless lifestyle just pisses me off, and if you're a working class citizen it should piss you off too.

What to do?

Alright this needs to be settled. Last night I was out and about and I was introduced to some people and I shook this guy's hand but when I shook it I noticed he tried to pull away and do a slide. This kind of thing demands immediate attention. Have you ever felt that awkwardness after you go in for a handshake, or a slide and bump, or a shake and hug, and whoever is opposite you expects something different? First of all you come away feeling like an idiot and your opposite comes away thinking you are just that...an idiot.

but not the rich kind

I think the handshake and the greeting need to be analyzed. Is there a situational standard that can help you identify which greeting is expected? Or is it a race thing, should you fist bump white people to show you're hip? Should you shake a black person's hand to show respect? Do girls expect a hug? Who cares, why is she out of the kitchen? Is there a sandwich in her hands?

lolz sexist jokes iz funniez

Digressions aside, what is the real problem here? The problem is people! If we just get rid of all the people then handshakes and the need for them would be rendered void by the surrounding mushroom clouds.

Problem solved!

But seriously, nuclear war is not a way to solve real problems, unless you are a machine and you believe that humans are your biggest opponent in which case carry on. But since I am a great man and I do my research.

Wikipedius granting man knowledge

I went a searching on YouTube and I found these two gents.

These gentlemen have been kind enough to work out some of the difficulties and give you tips to help you out of your socially awkward greeting. They don't give you any advice on social situations that can help you sort this kind of thing out.

But maybe they are on to something. Maybe a handshake is based on the individual. So there is really no situational standard. Your boss at work might be really cool and so he feels a fist bump is more appropriate, or that white guy you met at the party while playing flippy cup wants to show he appreciates you not spilling your beer that last time and so he wants to shake your hand.Basically you need to read the individual and assess(quickly) what the next step is. If you can read the other person right your handshake might be like this.

Or like this...

I hope we start greeting each other like that.

A Simple Test

So I was given a very simple challenge. Turn off my computer for 48 hours. I was allowed to first get anything off of the computer that was necessary for homework. I sent my necessary sources and things to my email account so that I could work on them later. We were instructed not to use our own computers or our roommate's, but we were allowed to go to other places, like libraries for example. The first 24 hours of the challenge went pretty smoothly. I finished my final paper on another computer and then I returned to my room. I watched some TV played some Legend of Zelda and went to sleep, no big challenge. The final day was more difficult. I had no papers to write to take up my time and so the end of the day could not come fast enough. If I could sleep then the time would go by faster and the challenge would be gone sooner.

The point of the challenge was for us to experience a short amount of time in the digital divide. The Digital Divide is the reality that some areas of the world have access to technology while other areas do not. We had to try and live our lives without our most necessary tool and luxury, our computer. I can say that the challenge was doable for me because I know of places that are nearby that allow me access to computers and the internet. Also, unlike some people, I am not completely reliant on the computer or the cellphone.