Real Versus Phony

Well, I haven't blogged on this blog for a while.  It'll be interesting to be back, that is, if anyone is actually reading any of these.

Anyways, I thought I would evaluate what it means to be real versus what it means to be phony or fake.  Look at any notable piece of literature, there always seems to be the person who is fake, or different from the rest.  Holden in The Catcher in the Rye points out countless phonies.   Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, had real motives, but his life was fake.  The whole life that the notorious Oedipus was living was a fake life, a lie if you will.

Now, what is a real person?  What is a phony, fake person?  Well, that depends on who the evaluator is and who the evaluated is.  To me, a fake person is one who tries to modify themselves to impress others.  Yes, conforming is fake.  Conforming is changing so others can view you in a light that is better than the light which you view yourself.  Whether is it conforming for one person or one thousand, conforming is fake.  Now for what a real person is.  That is the harder one.  What makes a person real?  Don't we all view ourselves as real?  Personally, I see myself as a completely real, legitimate person.  Am I so ignorant though that I can't recognize my own faults?

I'll tell you the ultimate fault.  Being the judge.  As humans we are so quick to judge.  We don't know what is going on in that persons life, yet we are so quick to judge them.  Yes, I am writing this blog critiquing others, yet I probably don't know what is going on in many lives out there.  That's why some people can really strike a deep chord in me.  Knowing the life and story of people, then seeing them in a phony light can really get to me.  I know these two people so well, and they try as hard as they can to impress me or others around me.  WHY?  They are so unoriginal and fake, it is beyond anger for me, it is borderline rage.  I'll admit, I conformed to society.  It is not socially acceptable to yell at them and call them out for it.  That would be "rude" and "harsh".  Yes, it would be, and even if it was socially acceptable, I don't know what I would say.

There is definitely some sort of psychological aspect to my thinking.  I believe I have grown up in a household with lots of conformity... I believe I have grown up in a society that is always conforming.  That's why this topic is on such thin ice.  In all honesty, everyone conforms in some sort of way.  Everyone does their own thing also.  I view others as phony, but people may view me as phony.  I view myself as real, but who doesn't?  Nobody is going to admit that they aren't real.

Anyways, I just thought I would vent on the topic.  It is such a slippery slope living in our society.  Everyone is so different, and recognizing that may be another flaw of mine.  I, just like everyone (conforming?), want life to be perfect and everyone around me to be perfect.  We all know that won't happen.

-NPS

Music

This one is just going to be a rant. I have tried to talk to friends at school about this subject but rock and roll is a dying art. I have always been a fan of rock music, in fact I am about halfway through Dark Side of the Moon right now, and there are so many connections that go on in the music. Of course much of this is personal interpretation, yet there is some factual pieces to this.

Because I am listening to Pink Floyd right now, I'll start with them. Without Pink Floyd, I believe that the techno/dubstep movement would never have taken place. Looking at DSOTM, Breathe has a lot of effects to it that are so unbelievably different to the sounds that were going on at the time. I believe that Roger Waters is really a musical genius with his writing. Many artists tried the concept album, or rock opera, but he is the best at it. Just look at many of their albums. DSOTM, Wish You Were Here, and of course The Wall. Concept albums are the hardest things to create, I would imagine, and Waters makes them all so deep. DSOTM is largely influenced by Syd Barrett and his mental health decline, but his ideas of greed, and time that are present in the album are unbelievable. WYWH is another album that largely deals with Barrett, with songs such as "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and the beautifully written "Wish You Were Here". Moving on to The Wall. This has to be my second favorite album of all time. DSOTM is my favorite, however I think that this album is so much more complex than its predecessor. Listen closely and you can here, "...we came in?" at the very beginning of the album and the final words of the album are "Isn't this where..." This of course would make the album a loop. It starts and ends with the same sounds, and it has that awesome phrase. This is the album where everything came together for the bad. I don't think that David Gilmore had a better guitar solo in his life than he did on "Comfortably Numb". I also think that song writing from Waters is so complex and deep. The build-up of Pink, from birth to self isolation to destruction is great. The ideas that he wrote about were complex and it has so many different levels to it. The satirical writing that comes along in "In the Flesh Pt. 2" is also an added bonus.

I think this will be the first of many rants on here. I need a place to share my insights as well as my knowledge, and this seems like a good place. So stay a while, Have a Cigar. (Pun intended.)

Time

"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked elipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand."

For school I had to read this sonnet by Shakespeare for an AP audition test. It really got me thinking about the joys of life. I believe that Shakespeare was absolutely right that time will destroy everything. Time can't be stopped and it is something that life revolves around. If I could have anything in the world, I think I would have more time. It feels like just yesterday I was learning how to read and write in first grade, and in a year from now I'll be done with high school. Where does all this time go? I wish I could just make every minute feel longer and more genuine but I know that is impossible. Life moves at an unbelievable rate and it can be so hard to just look around and enjoy it. I have made a promise to myself that I am going to live a great, passionate, life but I just wish I had more time to do this.

The Problem With Schools

Lately I have been looking at the school system. Mitt Romney visited our school the other week, and he failed to mention anything about the education system. I thought that was a little strange considering he was in a school, and apparently so did everyone on the Facebook world. There were posts left and right about his lack of discussion on the education system. Anyways, every Sunday I meet up with a bunch of other high schoolers and we talk about issues like this. Last Sunday while we were talking about school, the topic of learning came up. That really got me to look at the teachers that I have currently, as well as past teachers, and critique them in a way. In my view, the teacher needs to create new level of thinking in a individual. Personally, I really like learning but some teachers can make it very difficult to do. I cannot stand lectures, because they can't make me think in a new way. Listening to the teacher can make me learn of course, but it is through interaction and discussion that a student can actually learn. Discussion can create new ideas that can morph into a great learning experience. I understand that different teachers have different teaching styles, but lecturing a class of teenagers on something they don't understand can make learning very difficult. Everyone knows what it is like to listen to an hour of constant lecturing, but who can really efficiently learn from that? Plenty of people have supported this idea of mine, and a lot have also retorted it. "You better get used to the idea of lectures because when college comes around you are going to need to be able to learn from it." Yes, I understand that college classes have hundreds of students and teaching them can be difficult unless it is through lecture, but for now, I want to see more teachers really opening up their classrooms and letting ideas flow through it. Great ideas come from what other people say, and how can one think great things if they are only listening to one person? Not to mention that person is more than double our age. Let me focus on learning now, and then sharpening those ideas in college. Listening to others is a great learning tool.

Givin' It A Shot

I've never actually blogged before so we will see how this goes. I don't know who will end up reading this but I guess I will write these posts as a blogger that is highly read. Ha. I plan on blogging pretty much about anything. Life, running, school, music, religion, reading, etc, etc, blah blah blah. All that fun stuff. Anyways, I am from Colorado, I run cross country and track, I am a high schooler, I enjoy the outdoors, I really love old music and can talk about it all day. Recently I have noticed I actually really like writing. I have always been an avid reader, but I never really took writing as seriously. I never saw myself as someone who could create with words. I guess one college writing class and two high school writing classes a day will do that to someone. Well I guess that is me.