I Have A Fuzzy Tummy, Sore Shoulder, and No Eyes

[silver_tiamat]

Well, no contacts. That's like having no eyes.

I can sum up today with a few short facts.

-Four hours of labor.
-Two hours of eating.
-Six hours of light but unrelenting rain.
-50lbs bags of clay.
-Wheeeeeeelbarrows.
Conclusion at end of activity: FOUR HOUR NAP.

Comments

[silver_tiamat]

I wanted to be like, "DUDE. I'm RIGHT HERE. XD" But, eh. It's happened to me before, with people congratulating guys who are like, walking next to me for their "conquest" of me or however they see it. I really don't think I'm such a prize, especially given that I couldn't get a single date for all four years of high school, and barely managed to scrape by with a handful for all four years of college. o.O

Brian and I talked about this while we were at the event--he was saying how, wouldn't it be great if all high schools had mandatory community service like once a month or something, and I turned to him, appalled, and said, "I'm completely against community service requirements in highschool. Completely. I want the entire program eliminated."

I feel strongly against this issue. It's FORCED CHILD LABOR. And it's ridiculous. If you feel the need to help, then you should be able to, but making it MANDATORY? Dude, I've always been the type of person to find a volunteering thing to do (going into classrooms through programs is my favorite, but I'll do other things), but I HATED EVERY MINUTE OF MY MANDATORY COMMUNITY SERVICE.

I would ONLY accept it as a mandatory thing if it was required for everyone above the age of 14 and under the age of like 55 or something, that every year you must log such-and-such hours. Because then you could really get shit done in the world from free labor. BUT. It's not. It's just high school. And it doesn't teach you jack shit, except about how school is out to exploit you and take advantage of the power it has over you.

Fuck community service.

That being said, I'm sure you could have handled it! There were older men (60+) and really thin older women (maybe 90lbs after they finished getting soaking wet from the rain, and around 55+), who couldn't do a lot of the heavier lifting, but they definitely helped out with stuff like the clearing of invasive species and the like. Get out there and help! (Just don't feel forced to do it. REBEL! XD)

[outlier1985]

I think trying to get the message across to kids about the good they can do through volunteering would be great, but I'm with you... I just get the feeling that forcing them is just going to end up making them hate the entire idea of it. :S

& I think I tend to underestimate what I'm physically capable of anymore, due to lung issues I've dealt with since I was 21 or so. I still don't know wtf it is/was, but my lungs would 'constrict' on me, I'd get horrifically congested, and I'd go for months where I could barely get out of bed, and it felt like I was breathing through a straw. Then it'd clear up for like half a year, and I'd feel better, but I'd be weak to the point that I couldn't even pull myself up into the back of a truck.

I've used Advair since like.... February or so of last year, and it's made a big difference, my lungs are almost perfectly clear again. o_O

[silver_tiamat]

See, I think there are a lot of better ways to get across the idea that volunteering is a good thing. Teens aren't as stupid as we like to make them out to be, nor as resistant to human concepts as TV would have you believe. I know--I was one of those teens. =/

But, I think that just like how it's hard for someone to start to like reading in their teens because some of the really great books that they would have liked to read someday are SHOVED DOWN OUR THROATS (I, who already loved reading, didn't mind the shoving, but I know plenty who did), it's very difficult to enjoy community service when you feel that you're being trapped in a corner and forced to do it.

That's awful. D= I guess it's no worse than getting old and having your body start to break down, but it shouldn't have to happen at like 21+. =/ It reminds me of how Brian was a really, really active kid who loved stuff like soccer and swimming and running around in circles (XD), until he developed asthma. It completely changed his ability to do things that he wanted to do, including later on when he learned to play the saxaphone (blegh), and had to really work 10x harder than the other kids to get the necessary lung capacity. It sucks when your body shuts down on you for no good reason. D=

Of course, I have the constant problem of being short. So. *shrug* To quote a wise comedian:

"I've never understood short people. It just seems like such an uncomfortable way to live. People laugh at you and you have trouble getting things out of cupboards."

[outlier1985]

Aye, I was a big reader in High School, and I was okay with having books shoveled at me as well. xD If they hadn't, after all, I might never have read 1984! D:

...but that kind of depresses me now, I used to be a big reader, now I rarely do anymore. I really should get back on that. @_@

As far as I can tell, my lung issues were either asthma(which I'd prefer if given a choice) or COPD(which is the most horrible thing ever, oh man :S). I'm thinking it's more towards the former, if not just a random lung condition, because asthma can improve with treatment, while COPD only gets steadily worse over time, or so I've read. :S

"I've never understood short people. It just seems like such an uncomfortable way to live. People laugh at you and you have trouble getting things out of cupboards."

*ponders making a Randy Newman reference, decides against it* xD

[silver_tiamat]

Dude, 1984 is the shit. Right there. That is the stuff. It's doubleplusGOOOOOOOOOD. =D That is totally one of the books that I bought my own copy of during high school, so I could read it again and again and agaaaaain.

D= Stupid lungs. Why can't lungs just...stay good? I have chronic bronchitis, which means that at any point if my immune system drops low enough (from a cold or flu or what-have-you), I develop bronchitis. So, about once-a-year or so, I end up either fighting off a beginning infection of bronchitis, or I end up with a full blown lay-in-bed-and-cough-with-every-breath-feeling-like-I'm-drowning bronchitis. It's fun times, lemme tell you.

PS--I admire your restraint. u_u

[outlier1985]

Oh man... I'd read some good books before that(and some not-so-good @_@), but that was the first one that just BLEW MY MIND. And to this day, I'm actually thankful to Mrs. Pease(English teacher at the time) for having us read it. xD

She had us read other stuff like The Great Gatsby, East of Eden, a few Stephen King works, and Gorky Park, which I actually REALLY enjoyed, but it was a tad violent and graphic, and apparently one of the students who read the morgue scene(with detailed descriptions of naked corpses, I guess), was bothered, their parents got offended, and the school had all the books confiscated. Lame. >.>

Ach, bronchitis. Other than my lung issues I rarely get sick, so... ouch. :S I feel for you. >.<

[silver_tiamat]

We had some awesome books...and some not so awesome books. One of my favorites was Beloved which is a trip, let me tell you. Right there on the disturbing level as The Color Purple, but a lot more esoteric. Then there were books like All Quiet On The Western Front which tried SO HARD to be cool...and failed utterly.

And I'm just going to say this right here and now, having read it on my own for fun in elementary school, and then having it on a mandatory reading list for middle school, high school, and COLLEGE:

I WILL NEVER READ HUCK FINN AGAIN.

I think I'd rather have my left hand cut off, and I'm very fond of my left hand.

PS--Until parents start banning movies in theaters that an underage teen COULD see, or all TV shows that they COULD encounter...they should just fuck off with books. It's not as if they can't just pop down to B&N and read it on their own. No age limit on book buying except on the yaoi porn manga (and they totally do not enforce that, btw).

[outlier1985]

PS--Until parents start banning movies in theaters that an underage teen COULD see, or all TV shows that they COULD encounter...they should just fuck off with books.

Yeah, no kidding. :( I sometimes ponder how people can be that sensitive, but I sometimes have to stop and remind myself that not everyone's parents were like mine. Aside from a few exceptions, my parents weren't too concerned if I read/saw things others would find objectionable, they just made sure to keep an eye on what I WAS looking at, and made sure I didn't get any weird ideas.

Hell, I was watching Robocop and Predator by the time I was like 5-6 years old, and it didn't bother me a bit. Violence and such in media didn't actually 'bother' me until I got a lot older, because it was only then that I understood what things like that meant if applied to real life. o_O

Yeesh... I remember one kid I went to school with, a dude named Zach. He fit every stereotype of the 'nerdy' kid you can think of, and his mom... holy crap. She was the most embarrassingly protective parent I'd ever seen. If she learned that a movie was going to be shown at school, she'd come in with him, and interrogate the teacher about what was showing. And if it was anything higher than "G," she'd either sit next to him and watch it with him, or she'd escort him out to keep him from seeing it. I'm not even kidding. I can't even having to grow up like that. o_o

Erm. Where was I? I appear to have cluttered your comments with random off-topic-ness. xD

[silver_tiamat]

My mom always had us watch pretty age-appropriate things. But, that doesn't mean these watered down, cleaned up, "safe" kid movies they put out nowadays. That meant stuff like "The Dark Crystal" and "The Last Unicorn." Both of which have their dark moments, and deal with death, hate, and lies. Not to mention things like "The Princess Bride," one of those great movies that only gets better the more you rewatch it as you age, because you start to understand more and more and more about the jokes that are told, and what the movie is really about.

But, I also subscribe to the belief that if a kid is old enough or mature enough to understand an adult concept, then they have the right to watch it. It's sort of like if you have a kid watch a movie full of innuendo (like Austin Powers), they're either going to get it, or not. And if they don't, no harm done. If they do, then they've already "grown up" that far.

Additionally, growing up with the brothers that I did, and play fighting from a young age with our bare fists, I had an innate understanding of violence and pain. It's one of the driving elements of even my early childhood empathy, and extreme disgust revolving around the "humor" of pain (like videos where people get hurt).

Overprotective parents really are very misguided. I believe that generally, their hearts are in the right place, but they don't think what they're really doing through. There is a point of protecting that stops being protecting, and begins to severely cripple and weaken a child. Not that I think you should just open the floodgates to whatever comes by, but I do believe in realizing that a gradual introduction to the horrors this world contains is the only way to successfully integrate a child into an adult world as they age.

Haha--clutter away! =D