My 6th Grade Story

                              The Rogue Panda travels in solitude, companions will only hold him back.

So I recently moved and started going through all my old things, one of the objects I found was a notebook I used in 6th grade... it contained many concerning things. Quite possibly one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen a sixth grader write was found within this notebook. Just read, it's a gem:

"Seth ran from the fear he finally decided to conquer. As he pulled out his rifle the squirrel darted up with an acorn. BOOM! The squirrel was shot and limbless. I needed a souvenir so I began to search for a tail or a head, I found both of them lying in the middle of the interstate. Driving home the eyes on the head blinked, scared I ripped the eyes out of their sockets. At home I made a chew toy for my dog out of the tail. I still wasn't satisfied. So I sat in a golf cart, now revved up the cart and I were gone. I just had run over 6 rabbits, now I got out of the cart. I grabbed a long stick lying nearby and threw it at another rabbit, the stick got stuck in its side. Slowly, it started hopping away. It left a trail of blood so I followed. I found it lying against a tree twitching. This... was my last kill of the day. As I went home I fell off my bike and got road rash all over my back. Obviously I walked the rest of the way home........... WHOA! what a weird dream. As I rolled out of bed I had a weird feeling and I saw everything differently. I'd wished I tasted some of that rabbits blood and I didn't know why. It was a strange feeling. As I stood up my teeth hurt, not my gums.. my teeth. I went to school, on my way Frank started messing with me, I punched him and he flew through the air, at least ten yards away. Confused, I ran away and reached a sunny field. The sunlight made me feel empty, dead... I walked out of the field and reached some shade, my soul had returned. As night fell I felt like I was growing and gaining muscles like crazy. Hair started growing everywhere and I really wanted a steak. My shirt just ripped to shreds from me growing. I ran upstairs to look in the mirror and I couldn't recognize myself. Outside the window I saw a deer. The last thing I remember is jumping out of the window until now."

The most discomforting part about discovering this story is that I have no recollection of writing it, and I feel like I would remember writing this. Maybe I was just really bored in one of my classes and wrote about random garbage that didn't completely make sense and alternated between different points of view. I like to believe that the transformation I was experiencing in the story was me becoming the rogue panda. The most awesome thing about this notebook was the guitar music I had written inside, I was rather impressed with myself.

Thanks for reading... I will make my best efforts to update tomorrow.

-UsedtobeSadeeiq

Motivation

"The Jedi of the Sea"

My freshman year I was convinced to join the swim team by my brother and a couple friends. The swim team has really contributed to my mindset and development as a person, as well as lead me to friends that I would have never met otherwise. Swim season... erm.. pre-season started on monday this week, which explains for my lack of posts -- sorry everyone. Anyways, freshman year I was the worst on the team, I understand people say things like that a lot to be humble but I am not being humble because I was completely and utterly worthless. If anything I was a liability to the team due to the fact that I would slow down the relay teams I was placed in. However, I really enjoyed being on the team and the practices were always kind of fun to me. Sophomore year was another year of learning, I had been training off season a little bit and had some substantial losses of time. I figured out which races I was good at, or not as bad at and just started to work on those. Junior year was a rough year, I had mouth surgery right at the start of season so missed the first two meets and picture day. I started to become bored with swimming and actually talked to my mom about quitting the team, she talked me into staying for a couple more meets and then deciding. Her main argument was that I hadn't been in a meet yet and I was getting bored with practicing for no goal, I am endlessly thankful to my mother for convincing me to stick with it. The rest of the season junior year went really well, I was able to go to all of the big invitationals aside from state. At the end of Junior year I was voted to be one of the captains for the following season. Here we are now, with senior season just starting... I failed to mention that sophomore year I got injured and hurt my right shoulder pretty badly. The injury managed to hang around throughout junior year and I was sick of it, to prevent the annoyance and pain this year I have been conditioning all year long. Practice started monday and I had given myself the thought a co-worker planted in my head: "Today is the first day of the rest of my life." (I was also kind of in a very optimistic mood for other reasons... but thats for another post.) I normally miss out on a few yards in a practice because I need to use my inhaler or stretch my shoulder but I didn't miss a single thing on monday. I have somehow managed to have more fun and enjoy swim more so far this year (the entire three days) than any other year so far, and I can't quite explain why. I also have been able to keep up with some of the faster swimmers this year and am incredibly stoked to see the kind of times I get this year. My coach has already decided to put in the 100 butterfly for the first meet... which is not exactly the ideal race for me but I really want to see the kind time I get. Anyways I just am way too excited for the rest of this season not to blog about it, sorry for my lack of posts... I can't promise they will be more frequent but I will do the best I can.

Anyways, love you guys. Narwhals for life!!! 

-UsedtobeSadeeiq

A Sense of Renewal

                Don't let that majestic leap fool you, that dolphin is just as bad as Tobias Fünke of "To Catch A Predator".

In the last few months my family has gone through a wide range of changes, one of these changes was being required to move out of the house we have lived in for 7 years. The people living in the house at the time it was foreclosed were my mom, my brother, and me. We were given about a month to officially get out of the house and have it ready to sell, that was mid december. It was decided we would be moving in with my grandma who lived approximately half a mile away, and had two extra bedrooms. This was a win-win situation because it would allow my mom to save money up since she wouldn't have to be paying for a home and my grandma could always use extra help around the house. Two weekends ago my brother was moved into her house and took the larger of the two rooms.
Today I finished moving into my grandmas house, I went from having a bedroom that was about 12 feet by 20 feet, and the bedroom I currently reside in is probably 10 feet by 8 feet. The interesting thing about this change is that I have absolutely no problem with it, I actually like it. This move allowed me to get rid of objects I have possessed from the time I was a young child, and now my life has been so simplified. My room a month ago consisted of a queen size bed, two guitars, a dresser, a giant sign with my name in graffiti on it, a desk, a giant panda, a set of shelves, two desk chairs, a horseshoe game set and a large radio. The room I am now sitting in is made up of a desk, a chair, a twin sized bed, a dresser, and a small bedside drawer. There also aren't any lights installed into the new room, I rely on natural light and the light of a lamp I bought at IKEA. The thing I appreciate most about the new room is how easy it is for me to focus or motivate myself. There are far less distractions and the dim setting is much more calming.
The reason for me getting the smaller room is due to the fact that I will be moving out of state within the following year for college. I gotta say, this experience has only made me more excited for college and I feel more ready now than ever before. The timing was impeccable also because my entire schedule will be changing along with the move, swim season starts tomorrow and I am starting a new workout routine designed by my brother (studying to be a personal trainer... or something). This entire weekend has presented me with a new feeling, a sense of renewal.

All of you should go check out this blog right here. (Especially if you appreciate poetry, and if you are against dolphin rape... it's a real thing, go look it up.)


-UsedtobeSadeeiq


P.S. To anyone who understands the "Arrested Development" reference: you are an angel sent from heaven.

Hair

Today, I got my haircut and I was noticing how much a person's hairstyle can change their appearance. Now I believe each person has a different idea about how a certain hairstyle correlates with someone's personality. So today you readers are in for a real treat, because I am going to explain the personality I affiliate with a variety of hairstyles.

Bald:

"I am balding in my early to late twenties and don't want people to know... shaving my head will both make me seem tough and young at the same time." Men that are youngish and shave their heads are all actually hiding the fact that they aren't capable of growing a full head of hair. They are typically arrogant, and possess a very boy-ish attitude. However, there are exceptions, sometimes they are really cool and do it simply for the convenience of never having to style their hair. They also might have donated their hair, which is a really awesome thing to do (if you ever do it, then go you!).

Tapered/Short Hair:

"I am in the military -- or a very handsome celebrity." 

This is a haircut that has obtained a very wide variety of wearers. Obviously it is the style, or similar to the style, required in the military. It is also worn by many actors such as Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal (in picture), who are all typically regarded as above average looking. I can not pinpoint one exact personality for this hairstyle.

Horse Neck:

"I want to be really creative with my hairstyle so I am going to get it cut like the guys on tv have it."

This is a haircut that is more of an experiment than anything, I personally think of the hair trailing down a horses neck every time I see a guy that looks like this. Guys with this haircut are normally kind of okay guys, but only in moderation. 

Singer of Creed Hair:

"I am in a 90s rock band that plays at the local coffee shop on saturday nights." This is a hairstyle that I have seen on nearly every singer for a somewhat popular 90s rock band. The guys with this haircut are normally pretty cool, but carry very strong opinions. I feel like a lot of young teachers also carry this hairstyle... I can not think of any examples though.

Mustache/Facial Hair:

"I am a very surly man, I respect nobody but myself and my momma." This is a style that is quite possibly the most manly one, it has been around as long as humanity. In a time before men could shave they would determine how manly a man was by the ferocity of his mustache. If he sported a beard rather than a mustache it was possible to be just as impressive, however a beard was rated under different criteria. The man in the picture is Sam Elliott... a true man to represent the most recent century.

Thanks for reading guys.

-UsedtobeSadeeiq

Music

So I recently started talking about music with someone and I started to scroll through my iTunes library. This event made me realize how much music I had that I never listen to, or that I stopped listening to. A few minutes later I looked at my most played songs and most of them I hadn't heard in a long time, but were so good and provoked so many thoughts about the period of time when I listened to them most. So here is the top ten and I will provide brief explanations about the times I listened to them most.

10: "North by North" Faded Paper Figures

This song is so incredibly sentimental to me, I first heard this song about halfway through freshman year. At the time I was very confused and didn't really know what to do with myself, this is around when I spontaneously decided to join the swim team.

9: "Forces of the Unseen" Cloud Cult

I first heard this song mid freshman year, but I didn't listen to it very much until the following summer, at this time I was considering moving to California to live with my dad. I was super stressed and I'm still not completely sure why... I was just being stupid about school and such.

8: "Art is Dead" Bo Burnham (Explicit)

Honestly, I don't remember the first time I heard this song or when I listened to it very often... but it is my favorite song by Bo Burnham. He is a comedian and most his songs aren't very serious but this one stands out because it provides a glimpse into his true thoughts and situation in the world.

7. "Everything's Magic" Angels and Airwaves

One of my all-time favorite bands is Blink-182, this is a band that was formed by one of the members when they were broken up a few years ago. This song is just super catchy to me, I listened to it most during sophomore year.

6. "Let it Be" Dyme Def

This is a great rap song, and the artist does not get even close to as much recognition as they should, this song led me to a lot of my deepest thinking the summer after junior year.

5. "Daylight" Aesop Rock (Explicit, be warned)

I first heard this song just a couple months ago when a friend introduced me to Aesop Rock, this was a great day. I just think that Aesop rock is super talented and has a very unique sound.

4. "Tonight" FM Static

The first time I heard this song was probably freshmen year, if not earlier... I listened to this song pretty much every day for about a month after my grandpa died.

3. "A Single Moment of Sincerity" Asking Alexandria (Explicit)

During middle school I went through a phase where I exclusively listened to screamo music and this band was by far my favorite. I don't really listen to this genre at all anymore but I can still listen to them and enjoy it every once in a while. I saw them live and it was one of the best concerts I have ever attended.

2. "Undeniable" Mat Kearney

Mat Kearney is a very talented artist and has provided me with some of the most enjoyable music I own. I listened to this a lot over the course of sophomore year.

1. "Going Away to College" Blink-182

Blink-182 is not my favorite band, but is definitely up there. This song has been among my favorites by them for a long time but I just started listening to it more as senior year has started.


Okay thanks for reading and listening! Hope you liked a couple of them, sorry for the huge range of genres.

-UsedtobeSadeeiq

Knowledge

                                          A vegetarian in their true form, a rare sight to see.

Humanity has always had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and understanding of how things work. Obviously there are exceptions to this generalization of humanity, the individuals who don't care and are uninterested due to being caught up is something else like trying to learn how to unicycle backwards (one of the hardest things I have ever tried). I would definitely categorize myself as the "normal" person in having the desire to understand everything that happens. The root of all knowledge is ideas, or theories that support what is known. Therefore, I love the spread of ideas -- ideas provide entirely new perspectives and provokes thoughts that could've never been reached before. I actually loathe writing, all forms of it... but ideas are easily spread by writing and because of that I will write something that shines a light on the true intentions of vegetarianism.

So as we all know vegetarians do not consume beef, which comes from cows. Cows however, release an immense amount of gas into the air whenever farting or burping. Methane is found in cow farts and heats up the atmosphere up to 23 times as much as carbon dioxide. The United Nations stated that cows have a larger impact on the environment than cars and trucks. In Argentina it was found that 30% of the greenhouse gases could be attributed to the cows powerful greenhouse gas.  Now, there are two ways to stop the destruction of Earth from these hell-beasts; one way is to try and transfer a bacteria from kangaroo stomachs that nullify the impact of these gases via chemical reactions between the methane and bacteria. Alternatively, we can just eat all of the most delicious steaks, burgers and tri-tips until the threat is eliminated. Vegetarians are also only eating plants, do you know what plants do? They release oxygen. You know what humans need to survive? Oxygen. So not only are the traitors (vegetarians) tainting the air quality with a higher concentration of methane but they are also eliminating a necessary resource for humans to survive. Eat beef. Prevent the eradication of mankind. Halt the rise of the vegetarians.

Okay thanks for reading.

-UsedtobeSadeeiq

Personality

So in the class I am in called Theory of Knowledge (TOK) we are in a paradigms unit, one of the first things we did was take a personality test. The results are represented by four letters with corresponding percents pertaining to how much you fit into that category. I took the test and my results were ENFP, which is Extrovert, iNtuition, Feeling, and Perception. The explanation said that ENFPs often think to themselves but at the same time are very social, which seems a little strange to me. The issue with my results was that the corresponding percents were 33, 12, 12, 33 (respectively) so none seemed very strongly related. I still thought this was very interesting and scrolled down to look at the "famous" ENFPs. Will Smith was one, as well as Steve Urkel! Anyways go take the test here, its the Jung Typology Test.

Anyways, I figured I would tell you all what the story I am considering to write will be about... however typical it may be. The main character is a woman named Thalia who is on a journey trying to find her long, lost sister Eva. The two sisters were raised by a man who was extremely violent and did horrible things to them for punishment, his name is Philip. Philip is also one of the higher-ups in an organized crime syndicate, he is not the leader of said syndicate but has a huge impact on the man in charge. Thalia and Eva were being punished one day and Philip had gone too far, as a result Eva ran away and was never heard from again. Years later Thalia finally decided to rebel and go on a quest to find her sister, the only lead she had was a blurry picture from a newspaper article... that was 3 years old. Philip eventually takes off to pursue Thalia and has more connections than anyone could've imagined.

Okay, I am about six pages into the actual story and will upload it when its done, but that won't be for a very long time... Thanks for reading!

Also, my friend will be donating her hair for St. Baldricks -- You should all go donate to her here.


-UsedtobeSadeeiq

Story Time

Hello all, so a boring post today. I do not want to dedicate too much time to the blog today because I am starting a story... and hopefully it will be a lengthy one. Anyway, I figured I would skim over that dream I mentioned in my post "My Dog in a Nutshell". Forgive me for not having an ample amount of background... but it was a dream so there was not much I could do to help it.

"You ready for the big match, this marks the most important day in your career Arold (this is the fake identity I will give myself for the story). Make sure you don't mess it up."

I was concerned as to why this "match" was so important for me, strangely I wasn't concerned that the person who just told me this was a chimpanzee. I moved the scarlet drapes hanging in the doorway out of my way and approached the ring... there was a table on it. As I neared the ring (the ring was the same kind that UFC fighters tussle in.) I noticed that the table was bearing a chess set. The chess set looked very official and expensive, next to it was a timer for each turn. I sat down in the chair closest to me and my opponent was revealed as they neared the ring... it was a woman. She sat down and the game began, all I remember is losing my queen very quickly then losing the game.

"Hey listen, don't worry about it. You still got higher stats in your career than she ever will and you are still the world champ." said Charles (This is the name I will provide my chimpanzee advisor).

The rest of the dream was spend trying to improve my game by practicing against Charles, I was regarded as the worlds best player but he would win every time. No one knew about Charles' secret talent because chimpanzees are not allowed to compete in official competitions... so I was his designated protégé. I really like to think of Charles as the Philoctetes to my Hercules.

It was after a game with Charles that I was woken up by Jasper eating the drywall outside of my bedroom door.



Thanks for reading!


-UsedtobeSadeeiq

Lifeguarding

                                                                Lifeguard Rule #1: Have "mad flow" and wear douchey shades.

So for those who don't know; I work as a lifeguard and swim instructor. Most of the first responses I get are "wow that's a really fun high school job" and "that sounds so nice, you just get to relax all the time huh?". There are many secrets about being a lifeguard that no one warns you about when taking the classes to become a certified lifeguard.

The first secret I will talk about is how parents that bring their kids swimming feel that all of their responsibility is passed on to the lifeguard watching the pool their spawn is peeing in. Now don't misunderstand me, they aren't wrong in assuming you should watch their kid and save the child if they start struggling because that is exactly what we are there for. The issue is that they will allow their kid to do literally anything the brat feels like doing, as long as they don't have to worry about it... this means the lifeguard is not just there to prevent drowning but also to deal with any conflicts over toys, games, random crying in general, and we get the honor of telling the kid every way that they CAN'T jump into the water. Parents are far too absorbed into their phone, and I used to think they did something important when I first got hired but after many peeks most the time they are just playing a game like angry birds or something. I recently saw a parent getting angry over flappy bird and just letting all of their frustration out on their offspring... but I felt that horrible child deserved it. When the parents do decide to partake in the swimming it never goes well, I have seen a parent encourage their child to try a front flip into the shallow end of a pool then after I interfered and told them it was against the rules they had a foot race on the deck of the pool. In short, a lifeguard is actually just a glorified babysitter who gets to deal with the arrogant fathers who try to be the "fun" parent. 

Another part about being a lifeguard is all the chores that require no actual lifeguard experience whatsoever. Ideally a lifeguard at my work is supposed to spend twenty minutes of each hour doing chores around the deck of the pool. These tasks consist of cleaning windows, cleaning swim gear (buoys, kick boards, floaty belt things for water aerobics...), scrubbing the stairs in each pool, scrubbing the grates around the pool, spraying the tiled floor with a high pressure hose, picking up trash, walking through the locker rooms, measuring chemicals in the pools, organizing the swim gear, and a few other various things. Those are all the "daily" chores, or the ones that are required to be completed every day. However, we also are given duties that are relevant to events the facility will be hosting, this month we started putting all the kids who take swim lessons and writing their names on fish then stapling them to a board. The lifeguards on duty were told to go through all of the papers and individually cut out each fish with a pair of scissors, had there only been a handful of papers it would've been alright but their were about twenty of each fish for six different levels. So just remember if you ever become a lifeguard, you can expect to become extremely efficient at washing windows. Squeegee and all. 

Children poop. A lot. For all the time I have been employed at my work I have been at the pool for 9 (I think) code browns, I was the lifeguard on duty for 2. That count does not include the kids throwing up or making some other disgusting mess, I have also witnessed that though. When I was in my lifeguard class I figured that I would encounter some gross things in the pool, but nothing could've prepared me for using a net to pick a nice brown dookie up out of a swimming pool. The worst part about this sort of event is that we close the pool for about an hour and use a vacuum in the pool, then put a bunch of new water in it. Then we allow people to immediately swim again. That is so horribly gross, I try to keep the swimming in the kiddy pool to a minimum simply because I know about its history with human excrement. 

Possibly the worst part about being a lifeguard is that the members, patrons, or whatever of the pool will blame the lifeguard for anything that they dislike about the facility. The people who come swim for recreational purposes or to do water aerobics (or claim to "work out" and really just lug around like a manatee) will come in every day and make some super clever, creative, and totally original joke about the facility forgetting to pay its electric bill, or to go downstairs and turn up the dial... I die inside a little more every time I hear one of those damn jokes. They just think the pool is too cold. Alternatively, the lap swimmers always come and get angry at us for the pool being too warm for a "distance" (200...erm... 4 laps... 8 lengths of the pool) set. There is absolutely nothing the lifeguards can do about the temperature of the pool, at my facility all that business is left to maintenance. My very first shift was after the annual refill of the pool I work at so the pool is about 3 degrees colder than normal (even after being heated for 2 days because heating up a body of water that large takes forever) and a woman was complaining about it being cold. I began to apologize and try to reason with an unrelenting effort but to no avail.. she threw the water aerobics bar bell things at me and stormed out of the building. 

Alrighty.. thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any requests!

-UsedtobeSadeeiq