Cliche though it may seem, my entire day yesterday could be equated to a rollercoaster ride. There were the anticipatory climbs, followed by the stomach-wrenching falls, and the dizzying loops. And there was one constant, the almost involuntary movement forward, the knowledge that I had stepped into the car, I had been locked in, and I would be dragged through the ride until it had reached its end. I had two options: I could close my eyes, scream, and cry, and ultimately ruin the experience for those sitting around me; or I could suck it up, I could laugh, with my arms in the air as I raced through the bends and plummets of the track, and if things got to be too much, I could place my hands on the bar, clenching with white knuckles, privately consumed in fear, but in no way inhibiting the ride for the others.

And then I realized how important it can be to simply listen, accept, and nod in agreement. This has, more or less, been the lesson of the year for me. More so than anything, this year has taught me the value of silence.

I want to say that I've finally unearthed some coveted path to maturity, that I've finally discovered the transcending path from childhood to adulthood. Afterall, this is perhaps one of the most fundamental obstacles of life, learning that it's not always about voicing your own opinion, or about pursuing your own happiness without consideration of any other, it's about accepting the fact that there are lives connected to your own, whether you like it or not. You're going to have to give in sometimes, occassionally submit to authority, and face the consequences of your own decisions.

I'd love to believe that I've finally made this discovery for myself, but I cannot say that, because it also occured to me that these are lessons that have been pounded into our heads from birth.

In truth, the stepping stones to shedding childish impertinence can be found in three doctrines any kindergarten classroom exalts:

The Golden Rule

Treat others the way you'd want to be treated. There's so much more to this than not hitting the kid who beat you in hopscotch. It's putting yourself in another person's shoes. It's learning to consider the feelings of another, and not acting out of selfishness. It's the recognition of another life, and the fact that we cannot always have what we want; sometimes we have to give in, for the sake of preserving harmony.

Sharing

Once again, others must be taken into consideration. There's a process to go through if there is something you want. You wait your turn, and you honor the turns of others. In other words, we cannot force ourselves into situations in which we don't belong. We also cannot exhaust a 'turn,' cannot tire of a toy, and then immediately decide to reclaim it once another child shows interest. There's an order to things that must be honored.

If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Don't Say Anything at All

This is the big one I think. It's the hardest to abide by. It's impulse to speak out, to give your opinion. If something is contrary to what you believe, it seems right to criticize. There seems to be so little to say about this one, because it is so fundamental. But, as I said, it's the most difficult one to finally grasp. In a lot of ways it encompasses the previous two doctrines, in the sense that the lives of others must be taken into consideration. Words go a long way, whether it's gossip, an honest expression of opinion, or a confession of one's own feelings. Sometimes these things are unwelcomed, and it's our place as individuals to take it upon ourselves to consider others, and to refrain from expressing certain thoughts if they'll hurt another.

And there it is. In what we've been told since we were old enough to formulate coherent thoughts, we've been given the key to maturity, the key to living an adult life. It's simply the acceptance and the acknowledging of our equivalence (rather than superiority) to those around us.

That's all I have left to say.

“you look like you doinked and Umpa Loompa!”

So that friend of mine who rox my sox, well ive decided to make her a weekly blog because well she rox my sox, need I say more. Well anyways this story is even funnier so here it goes

So one day im sitting in class just waiting for class to begin, when nature calls and I had to piss like a race horse, well as I leave the class to head to the bathroom I run into none other than, Lauren Scott, the little Texas girl who I will one day marry, well not really but hey who cares. Well I take one look at her and one thing become immediately clear to me. People in texas don't wear bronzer, I mean this girl came strutin in like she was something else. I took one look at her and said.

    "you just discovered bronzer, didn't you?"

    She was looked at me and said, "what do you think."

The poor girl she was all sorts of janked up, all I could say was,

    "you looked like you doinked an Umpa loompa."

I dragged her into the bathroom and immedialy went to town explaining to her the proper method behind blending and applying bronzer, all of this while sitting in the men's bathroom. And once again basically I saved her life. Its beginning to become a trend with this girl.

Word count 237

Lauren Scott

So I have this friend. Her name is Lauren, she rox my sox, I actually wrote a blog about her last semester but their was an interesting experience that occurred while I was stage managing Edwin drood. You see one day at rehearsal we had a run through and after the run through someone had told her that we were done. But in fact we were no done and had a very lengthy note session that followed after the run through. However during the note session I looked around and noticed that she was no where to be seen. So I pulled out my handy dandy cell phone and called her absent ass and was like homegirl where you at. And she was all like at my apartment, so what ended up happening was her coming and me hiding her under my jacked and sneaking her into the theatre. Well the second she sat down you hear the choreographer go. "where's lauren at" and her skinny butt is all out of breathe and panting and yells with what little air she has in her body and says "im right here." And basically I saved her life.

Word count 200

An exercise I do daily

 

How often do you laugh, uninhibitedly laugh? Until the point that your cheeks are sore? Until you stomach aches? Until the actual sound of laughter is no longer audible, but you're still laughing?

 
 

If it's not daily, something needs to change.

 
 

Alright, everyone:

 
 

(Right now)

 
 

Smile. Okay. That's a start. Don't you feel goofy, sitting at your computer smiling? Now think of something hysterical, the last thing you can remember that really, really hit your funny bone. Stretch that smile, laugh. Come on. The stupidity adds to the effect. Laugh. Out loud. Louder. Scream. LAUGH.

 
 

Now think of happiness. Pure, unadulterated happiness. Just the emotion. Whatever that may be to you.

 
 

It's a consuming feeling, isn't it? The overwhelming joy. The inexpressible, all encompassing, completely controlling feeling.

 
 

Repeat once daily.

 
 

Twice for lifetime longevity.

 
 

Be happy.

 
 

Peace out.

Maniefesto De Daniel

Okay so to start out this blog wendy assigned for us to write out our manifesto. When i looked up the definition to a manifesto i found five different definitions.

1. a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.

2. A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.

3. 1644, from It. manifesto "public declaration explaining past actions and announcing the motive for forthcoming ones," originally "proof,"

4. a public declaration of intentions (as issued by a political party or government)

5. a public usually written announcement of policies and intentions, especially by a political party

so looking at these definitions i quickly realized i am not a government or a political party so i decided that i could have some fun and just started writting something that told a little about myself and a couple of things i want people to know. furthermore when i went to wrtie my maifesot i thought about more than what the definition of it was. i thought about the communist manieftos, by marx and engles. what they wanted the readers to know was basically how to live as a communist. so when i wrote my manifesto i thought about what i would want people to know to live like me. so heres what came of it.

MANIEFESTO DE DANIEL

DESCRIPTION OF MOI

I am the product of a Mexican father and a Canadian mother, so in all sense of the world I am one of the few who can call themselves a Canexican. Which makes me a true identity crisis, the question I have asked myself since birth has been, who am I? What am I? Jokes have been made and tears have been shed. But after a long look in the mirror I saw a deep reflection of my inner soul and realized I am the true North American. That’s right be jealous.

I am also the product of a family who loves me. Most importantly a grandmother who raised me from the time I was born to the day I left for college. A truly remarkable woman who was born in Newfoundland before it was even part of Canada. Also a mother who would go to the end of the earth to make sure that I am happy. These two women along with countless friends have helped shape my life, who I am, and what I stand for.

Speaking of friends, my friends mean the world to me and, I consider them to be like family. To me a friend is a person who I have a connection with that goes beyond simply being acquaintances. It does not matter how long we have known each other, what matters is how well we connect, and how much I trust you.

Trust is another key component to understanding who I am. I am very trustworthy, and would never do anything to ruin that. However I do not always keep secretes. If something you tell me puts a person or yourself in danger I will most definitely make sure that you are saved from danger.

A COUPLE OF MY BELIEFS

I believe in a plethora of things which usually do not make sense to anybody but me. However, I will try to word these beliefs in a way that you all will be able to understand.

· I believe that theatre is the purest form of art. I believe this because art to me is something that imitates life, and unlike visual art or writing, theatre imitates life with life.

· When it comes to God, I cannot tell you exactly what I believe because I do not even know exactly what I believe. What I do know is that, there is a God, and there is an afterlife, but aside from that I am still searching for what I believe.

· I believe in the saying work hard play hard. I am an incredibly hard working person I am truly always on the go. Whether it be rehearsals, school, or did I mention rehearsal, I am always busy and I love that. On the other hand, when it comes down to it I know how to have fun and probably have a little too much fun sometimes.

· I believe that first impressions are very important; I feel that the way a person dresses and caries themselves say a lot about them. I am not saying to make a complete evaluation of a person based of what they look like. But those few seconds when you first meet a person is a very important moment and they way you act during that moment is probably what the other person will base his or her opinion of you off of.

RULES I LIVE BY

1. All things must be fabulous
2. All things must be over the top
3. All things must be extravagant
4. All things happen for a reason
5. Live like your dying
6. Don’t regret anything
7. Admit when you are wrong
8. Apologize a lot

IN THE END

I live my life by three doctrines that any kindergarten class exalts:

The Golden Rule
Treat others the way you'd want to be treated. There's so much more to this than not hitting the kid who beat you in hopscotch. It's putting yourself in another person's shoes. It's learning to consider the feelings of another, and not acting out of selfishness. It's the recognition of another life, and the fact that we cannot always have what we want; sometimes we have to give in, for the sake of preserving harmony.

Sharing
Once again, others must be taken into consideration. There's a process to go through if there is something you want. You wait your turn, and you honor the turns of others. In other words, we cannot force ourselves into situations in which we don't belong. We also cannot exhaust a 'turn,' cannot tire of a toy, and then immediately decide to reclaim it once another child shows interest. There's an order to things that must be honored.

If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Don't Say Anything at All
This is the big one I think. It's the hardest to abide by. It's impulse to speak out, to give your opinion. If something is contrary to what you believe, it seems right to criticize. There seems to be so little to say about this one, because it is so fundamental. But, as I said, it's the most difficult one to finally grasp. In a lot of ways it encompasses the previous two doctrines, in the sense that the lives of others must be taken into consideration. Words go a long way, whether it's gossip, an honest expression of opinion, or a confession of one's own feelings. Sometimes these things are unwelcomed, and it's our place as individuals to take it upon ourselves to consider others, and to refrain from expressing certain thoughts if they'll hurt another.

Peace Love and Daniel

America's next top model

as most of us know America's next top model has begun its ninth season. Yeah its hard to belive that we have already endured 9 cycles of watching wannabe models be widdled down to become america's next top model. but how relaistic is that these models will truly become a top model. the sad truth is proably none of the women will become truly successful models because of many reasons.

Reason 1: the women on the show are to old, period, eclamation point. its sad but its true. the world of modeling is a world that pulls young girls at the age of 13 and 15 to start a career that will last a good 10 years it is simply unrealistic that a women who is 25 is gonna have a career long enough to be considered a top model.

Reason 2: most of the women that win america's next top model don't have the qualities that big time magazines and designers are looking for to push their line. these people are looking for more of the eastern european look the girl next door which is typically what america next top model goes for. However it seems that they have started to change take a look at cycle 8 in whcih natasha a russian and jaslene a sex lataina were in the two to make the final run way challenge.

Reason 3: Relatity TV ruins you professionally. while it will give your quick 15 minutes of fame the truth is relity tv ruins people for the most part. its as simple as that. its simply hard to take anyone seriously after they've been on a reality tv show its as simple as that. shandi from cyle 3 is a perfect example. after signing with trump modeling she went on auditons only to be told that she is better for tv work rather than modeling.

these are some of the main reasons that the contestants of america's next top model will not be successful...but the show is still addicting and controls my life

Something that really impressed me

Last week in my Intro to Theatre Design class, our instructor Dave Noffsinger assigned us a two word project. In this project we each drew to words at random and had to come up with a way to connect them. We were to create a research board, a concept paper, and a box that shows our connection.

One of my friends Lauren drew the words soft and wire. we made jokes about the ways she could connect them and after that i went without thinking of what her connection would be. Honestly i didn't expect much from her because we all kind of took the project as a joke. well the day came for her to present and I was blown away at the metaphor she created while tying the two words together.

What lauren said was that while she was researching she just keep thinking about a soft wire. Then she said she thought about a trapeze act where the person walks across the wire. She then went onto explain how hard it is to walk on the wire and said that represented life. That our life is nothing more than a struggle get across our own personal tight rope.

In the box that we had to make to represent our connection Lauren had yarn going all over the place. she said that the extra yarn represent both obstacles that we have to over come and people that we meet in our life. She explianed that while we are all living our own lives our wire is intertwined with a lot of other peoples wire and that we must rely on some of them to help us get across our own wire and also be warry of the people who are trying to knock us off of our own.

Laurens presentatin made me think a lot about my own life and me realize how right she truly is about our wires being intertwined with other peoples. this was just something that really made me think and i wanted to know what you guys thought about it