Moon

Hey Everyone (or at least people reading this).

Hi guys and girls,

It's been a bit of a while since my last post, even through this isn't necessarily a recreational blog, but I kinda need to throw this somewhere so yea- blog it is.

Life for me, lately, has been, well...

Kinda crappy.

Nah.

Really crappy.

I'm not doing well in my full year classes, college deadlines are closing in, my guidance counselor seems to be doing just about nothing to help there, my parents are kinda on my a** about everything(sorry, if anyone's offended, but I have a voice, so I'm gonna use it) and to top everything off, I had to draw the line on my 2 year 8 month relationship, and my new interest seems to be [disclaimer: this is my speculation, I could be{and likely am} wrong] "preoccupied" *wink* *glasses tilt* *rips off pants* with other people, so yea...

F*ckin awesome, huh?

But you know what they say; what comes around goes around, and even through that phrase does not exactly fit here, I meant by it that the bad sh*t will only last for so long.

How long? How should I know.

Maybe when I perceive this to be happier, through that's gonna be a bit tough to do, considering that stress is not letting up anytime soon, and all of my peers (save a select few) are too caught up with their own egos to realize that one of them is withering before their eyes, despite the fact that I would, at the drop of a hat, tend to anyone who even remotely suffered in the same way.

What the hell does one have to do for some piety in the world these days.

Am I just a pansy?

Maybe.

But I'm a philosophical pansy, so there must be an answer to this.

The whole deal with the relationship hit me pretty damn hard, so that set me pretty off kilter in terms of emotional stability. Being single sucks at the moment, but I think I'll get used to it. Once that happens, things will lighten up.

Well, I guess that kinda wraps things up, and welcome to my stream of conscious *chuckle*. It really does help to write this down somewhere, honestly.

In other news, the entirety thus far of my life can be summarized in an album called The Golden Age, by a artist named Woodkid. If you want to know what my life is like, first hand, please, pick this album up. Hell, I don't care if you don't give a damn about me, just get the album anyway. It's freakin' awesome.

In terms of the future, I suppose I can post more of my life, but I do have a project in my Creative Writing class in which I am writing a Dark Souls fanfiction for, so once that's done I'll post that here as well.

For now, I'll be off doing something else, maybe productive, maybe not, and with that, to all a good night, and happy winter religious/ethnic holiday.

I'll be back, soon.

Your's truly,

Mitchell, a.k.a. Another_Arisen

project thingy.

Here's another project proposal for my philosophy class. Saved it here, but why not post it too? Here you go, amd sorry for the formatting.

Mitchell 12/9/2013 Block G Modern Hero Project Proposal: The GMO The contemporary issues that I chose to tackle for my final project was that of a newfound threat to modern day America- the GMO. GMOs are genetically modified plants, seeds or animals created by the splicing of DNA or other types of genetic modification (Natural Revolution). GMOs were initially overlooked by the general populous as a major issue, but in recent history they have been causing quite some trouble. Modified seeds create modified plants, who happen to be extraordinarily resistant to pesticides, thus the reason to create even stronger ones to kill the bugs that threaten the plants (Institute for Responsible Technology). These same seeds also happen to cause a great deal of health issues to people as well; then soy beans began to be genetically modified, people’s allergies to them skyrocketed and they became unable to have soy products in their food (IRT). Unfortunately, soy is an incredible popular ingredient in the majority of today’s foods, seeing as GMO soybeans are both easy to make and easy to reproduce, and the GMO beans are easily surpassing the production of the beans generated by regular farmers (IRT). GMOs are not limited to just plants either; animals can be modified as well (NR). Animals tend to be modified so that they grow much larger in far less time, so that they can be slaughtered and fed to the public, who then absorb all of the modification the animals received. This can cause severe issues in young children and pregnant women, as the hormones within the animals actually begin to work their magic on the humans absorbing them, causing birth defects, growth disorders, allergies, and even carcinogenic effects (IRT.) All this, and the suppression of small business farm owners make GMOs a top priority to be eliminated, as America can no longer suffer from this blight. My hero, who is nameless at the moment, will be stricken off the get-go with a catch 22 situation- he is incredibly poor, and cannot afford healthy, organic, non GMO food for himself or his family, despite the fact that he hates GMOs and are actively making his family and himself sicker. He has tried speaking out to the owners of the businesses, but they are deaf to his words and choose not to listen to what a meager, penniless man has to say. As a result, he is left with only one option; try to cure them himself. Against all odds, he succeeds, and manages to remove the burden of illness from both himself and his family. But good things must come to an end when he arrives home after a successful job interview to see that his wife and children have been kidnapped. Grief held him down for long enough, and his fearsome wroth burning in his chest drove him out to destroy the monsters that had lain waste to everything he loved. On his journey he meets with Gabriel Goodman the Angel, who bestows him with an incredibly powerful weapon; a mystical staff of legend named Chipotle (pronounced Shi-po-tell) that grows more powerful as the user expresses more emotion. With the weapon in hand and knowledge from Gabe, our hero will not stop until his family is safe and sound, and the creators of the GMO face the fury of Chipotle. I plan on making this in a short story sort of format, but a graphic novel has gotten me thinking of a very unique and intriguing outlook on it. A film or other sort seem somewhat out of the question, as the time constraint is just too high, and I don't have the resources to do so. Time management will always and forever be a great enemy of mine, and I will simply have to do my best to overcome it in the making of this work. It won't be easy, but what is on my side is the fact that I am extraordinarily excited to create this story, so focus and organization will be a minimalistic issue. What I want people to take away from this is a simple life lesson, and a quote: "The strong prey on the weak. It's such a simple obligatory rule," and a response quote- "if you can't sacrifice anything, you can't ever change anything." Eventually, our hero and a comrade he will meet along the way both will put everything they have on the line to attempt to save what they truly love, and whether or not they succeed in doing so will determine the end of the story. Will an unlikely hero against all odds conquer the unfathomable? Or will a titan of a villain strike at the least expected moment and thwart our hero? Only time shall tell, and I eagerly wait to decide for myself.

Societal issues

things that are just plain wrong

Get the damn troops out of Iraq
Fix up this healthcare situation
Build UP, not OUT
Let's not kill off all of the endangered species, shall we?
Economy is garbage and must be fixed
Foreign relations crisis- don't even know where to start there
Get the damn trash continent out of the pacific ocean
Stop making alcohol so easy to get to
Treat the ****ing animals right in the factories
Stop shredding lower class America
Bill O'Reilly must be the first man to venture into space without a suit.

Jfk

Mitchell
The Epic Hero's Journey
11/22/13

Jfk

During his presidency, John F. Kennedy was one of the most looked after, admirable, and well respected men to have ever worked in the White House. His often mentioned and very positive look on the country's future firmly asserted him as one of the population's favorites, and also his plans to fix what was broken. One of his primary concerns was that of adjusting the laws on people who had less rights than they should. Mentally and physically challenged people were treated horribly before JFK decided that it must be fixed. Before his presidency, they were locked up with nowhere to go and nobody looking after them. John found this to be an atrocity, and made certain they earned the respect and care that they deserved and needed from the rest of the world. The second of his major issues was that of the one that was wreaking havoc across the globe; the Vietnam War. Hundreds of lives were being lost every single day for a cause we weren't even sure we should be fighting for, and Kennedy wished no longer to sacrifice our troops. He planned to take the troops out sooner, but his plan could not come through because he was assassinated on 11/22/1963. the eventual reality was that more troops were sent into Vietnam, and even more troops were lost in the conflict.

Compare and Contrast of Ancient Heroes

One of the primary similarities of these ancient heroes is that, in all of the clips, they are both faced with an overarching issue that they must surpass, and they have a revalation. As an example of the problem, the warriors of the clips (Achillies, King Leonidas, Mulan, Arisen) are often faced with combat or a mighty foe that them must at some point vanquish, or in Hercules' case, himself. As for the revalation, they all discovered something within themselves that they could not have found if they had not been in grave danger or shame. 

A Look into the Hero's Journey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Rqkvl0AtE

Title: Dragon's Dogma

Hero's Name/Title: The Arisen

Reason to fight: To retake their humanity from Grigori and save Gransys from his destructive wrath.

General context: We are about to approach the journey to the inmost cave; Grigiori is literally inviting the Arisen into it.

Analysis: For a scene of such terror and foreboding emotion of death and destruction, it is surprisingly well lit; one would suspect that it take a much darker turn and be in the bowels of midnight, but instead it takes place in the middle of the day. However, in response to this, we almost constantly find th eArisen looking small, or looking down upon by the villains of the scene, implying he is still weak and feeble before his final test. The dialogue is also a great emphasis of this, as both Elysium and Grigori both strongly degrade the Arisen, though Grigori has a few shreds more respect for him than Elysium does, but he pays for that.

A wonderful picture

The Perfect Villain(or at least mine anyway)

Mitchell

The Epic Hero's Journey

9/30/13

Imagine a tall man, about 6' 2", but weighing no more than 120 pounds at most. He is thin enough so that you can see almost every bone in his body, but can lift a Smart Car with a bit of effort. His eyes are sunken deep within his skull, sullen by sleepless purple bags as a result of heavy drug use and very little sleep, looking even deeper by clearly visible cheek bones. His teeth are broken and yellow, and as he smiles his brownish gums overwhelm his smile. One eye is the same color as his teeth, the other is purple. He sports a very worn denim jacket and raggedy tanktop, both covered in stains of hues ranging from black to brown to a mottled crimson. His denim pants are destroyed, showing scraped, stained knees. His shoes are battered and falling apart, but he cares naught. He saunters about, hands in his pockets, holding who knows what, but only he knows of his nastiest secret, for all others who find out last little longer before finding out.

As a result of an accidental heroin substitute/toxic waste injection, he has the ability to collapse his skeletal structure and remake it into a new shape, with rapidly healing and accomidating skin and flesh to match, meaning he can weaponize his bones by breaking them, forcing them through his skin, and taking a new form to accommodate for the new appendage.

In his pre-powered stage of life, he woukd pay prostitutes and strippers in whatever drugs he couls scrounge up, but they would tend not to "suit his needs" simply because he was so heinous. Unfortunately for them, they are no longer safe, and will be repaying what they should have long ago, whether they like it or not. This tension has led him to have virtually no sexual preferences, and tends to get brutally intimate with his prisoners, often leading to death. When he isn't raping them, he cripples them in hot pursuit, and takes great joy in viewing them limp to a false sense of safety before eating them alive.

The only person able to kill him is the guy who hooks him up with his fixes, working at a nuclear reactor, and all done so by chance. Eventually, our villian will be lead into charging in blind rage at the hero whilst transformed, who will deftly bludgeon the abomination in the eye with a lead pipe and kick him into a vat of waste, degrading him faster than he can regenerate and ultimately destroying him for good.

Society's-and my own-fears he represents are torture, serial killers, rape, serious drug abuse, and the uncanny valley complex. [On uncanny valley; he is *almost* human, but the transforming while still resembling a human just totally sets him off and freaks you the hell out.]

A sketch is in the works. 

No, I do not have any serious issues to speak of.

Joseph Campbell Response

Mitchell

The Epic Hero's Journey

9/25/13

              The Father of Philosophy

Today in class we watched "The Hero's Adventure" with Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. What an experience! Campbell is absolutely fantastic in every way, shape, and form. Not only does he know everything on the topic down to a tee, but he seems as if he has made all of these journeys himself. He speaks of them and about them like a being from the beyond, one who finds these great quests to find ourselves as petty as a stroll across the street, but at the same time, he holds the journeys in incredible respect, and doesn't once poke fun at them. He has deciphered every and all aspects of them flawlessly, and put it simple enough for anyone to understand. The way he speaks and his voice further accentuate how much he knows, and how little we do, but he hints at the beyond and our fate. He knows the truth of our kind, as humans- he knows what will save us and what will destroy us, and also knows that all we can do to help is reach his level of consciousness, which is, unfortunately, nigh impossible. In short, Joseph Campbell is a marvel, no less, and I am more than saddened that we lost him to time.

A Grievous Reminder

I forgot what it was like to get stabbed in the back.

Not good.

Our Heroes

Mitchell
The Epic Hero's Journey
9/23/13

Our Heroes

Who our heroes are can determine what in society we look for; help, idols, and inspiration, to name a few. For example, people who look up to soldiers as heroes perhaps idolize people with courage, strength, and the will to sacrifice for others, whereas people who look up to moms care more for patience and nurture in their idol figures. People who take fictional characters as their heroes- and there are plenty- may use them for any of the qualities above (usually the former).

Sleep- what's really going on?

What goes on in our sleep? When we do, we occasionally, or often, visit worlds beyond naturalistic limitations, which are called dreams. It is claimed that dreams are just mushed together happenings from the real world, but is this entirely true? Why can't we remember all of our dreams/forget them as we wake up, or have so many of them at a time? Could out unconscious minds be hiding the truth from us? 

Not only is it strange to think about, but dangerous to study. Lucid dreaming- the act of controlling one's dream as they sleep- is very dangerous, as one is susceptible to a specific kind of sleep paralysis linked only to lucid dreaming, leaving the dreamer locked in an unconscious state and unable to be awoken by outside forces, sometimes resulting in coma and even death. 

If our minds do this to us when we are on the verge of finding out, who knows what kind of knowledge we will obtain when the secret is finally uncovered.

Peddling Ponders- Perennial Philosophy

Mitchell

The Epic Hero's Journey

9/13/2013

Something about this topic is positively fascinating to me. I find the idea of "the Inner Self" to be incredible, and something we should all put great effort into pursuing. Wouldn't we all like to know the grand Truth, and see what living is like from the ethereal perspective? I most certainly would. To have soul and body linked as one would make you feel as a god in your own world, or the closest we mortal beings can get to/to be one.

I am left with questions however. Is one allowed to disrupt the life of another for survival, or is this to be condoned? Is a single act of harming another make it impossible to ascend? Is this just a passage to the proper death, and do we repeat living until we can find the Truth?

There is only one way to find out.

What Are We?

"What is your purpose here, Arisen? If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away. But then, tell me, child of man....what does it mean to live in truth? To wage war against the passing days? To pray to the unseen for a few breaths more? To raise grand cities from stone, and spawn new life in turn? Mankind has done this, yes, and more. But is the tapestry you weave truly of your own design?"

-Grigori, Dragon's Dogma

Who am I, and what do I stand for?

What does it mean to be human? What is "human?" Is it a link in the chain of evolution? Is it a gift to the world embodying all that is good? Is it a multicellular virus with no intention or good sense to do naught but destruction and cruelty, and wipe what life has worked to long and hard to create, clean from the face of this planet? One does not necessarily have to believe in any of those things, for they are their own individual being, and they need not conform to the standards some other set before them. We are powerful in that we have will, to choose what we believe in and do as we must to maintain that stasis.

However, regardless of what you stand for, the torture and killing of all other beings should never go unpunished. Kindness, peace, and discussion should be enough to solve the problems the world has; killing one another without any regard or consent is a vile, malignant deed and will only deepen the hole we bury ourselves in with conflict. I am no aggressor; I am a guardian to those I care about, and will only engage if there is no other option, or my loved ones are endangered. Violence in all other instances is largely condoned, and it shall stay that way.

We Probably Aren't Alone In Case Anyone Was Wondering

Mitchell
The Epic Hero's Journey
9/7/2013

Things Haven't Been The Same Since

It tends to be the moments in life where everything is status quo and regular when things out of the ordinary, occur. On the days in which life is just grand, everyone is happy, and people are at peace- that's when they happen. You just see something that isn't where it belongs, or something really bad happens that just soils it all. I'm almost sure the latter happened to all of us, between all the storms, the Boston Bombing, and the war in Syria, life has been going down a bit of a sour slope for us all in that sense. But what about the former? Have you ever had an experience where something...just isn't right? The laws of the world we know-or for what of it we do- bend? 

If you haven't caught my drift so far, I'm talking about paranormality; phenomena that simply cannot be explained by science yet. Every so often, and to some people more than others, strange things happen that just shouldn't; you hear about it on the news, and people usually call it malarkey. "They're all on drugs," "It's fake," and "C'mon, it's a hoax- you can see the strings," are common comments, but that's why I'm here. I'm here to prove that wrong. By all means, you may believe what you wish, for I am not one to judge another on their thoughts, but if you wish to hear about a plane of existence unseen, untouched and largely unknown by the state we live in, please, reader, continue.

I've always had a bit of knack for the ethereal world; an afterlife, a place where souls go after they leave the material world. But, taking the whole "uncanny valley" deal into consideration, it tended to creep the ever-loving bejeesus out of me, which is why I held off from learning more about it. I was also pretty young the first time I heard about it, in the middle of 6th grade, so it became more of a fear than an interest. Turns out the joke would be on me, but in due time, reader, in due time.

I moved in to my step dad's house a couple of years back, back before he and my mom got married. I was around 15, and the place was like a mansion to me. Disclaimer, it's not huge, but pretty big nonetheless, and very old to boot; build long enough ago to be the official meeting and conference place of John Cushing and George Washington. If you aren't up to speed with your American history, that means it's pretty damn old. Anyway, it was a summer afternoon when I was milling around the place and thinking, "There must be some sort of ghost in here." My step dad haughtily responded, "Nah, they've left by now. I kicked 'em out." "Hah; good one," I responded, "it's our house now anyway." But I wouldn't be writing this if that was the case, now would I?

Flash forward a few months, and it's a warm November afternoon of my freshman year. Family's out somewhere, shopping if my memory recalls, and I was sitting at my dining room table writing out some notes for my history homework tomorrow. I took a peek at the temperature not too long ago and it read around 75 degrees. Pretty toasty for November. The following moments will go ingrained in my mind forever. My dog, relaxed, springs from his bed and begins barking at the kitchen sink, then quickly scurries back into his bed. As I look over, an ice cold chill, easily 40 degrees, passes over my shoulder and I am instantly paralyzed with fear. Not long after faint footsteps quickly hurry up the staircase not far from me. Looks like the joke's on me now, huh?

February now, I just finish trying up a huge essay, and it's well past 2 in the morning. Just as I lull into a lethargic slumber, a heinous scratching on my door awakens me and I am again frozen. This goes on for 30 minutes, with intervals of around 4-7 minutes and intensifying noise. Just as I think it's over, I can see the door move with the force of a psychokinetic pound that hits it, rivaling a football tackle in ferocity, and followed by the most terrifying noise I've ever heard in my life; a blood-curdling, purely unearthly yowl of frustration and fury. I try to scream for help in horror my voice fails me. I am at the mercy of this entity, and it is angry. I muster all of the meager courage I have left and open the door. Nothing is there aside from a slightly cool draft. the next afternoon I address the spirit and apologize for anything I had done to offend it, and nothing of the ilk ever happened again.

I am typing this now, with all of the lights off aside from the back light of my computer, and I feel his presence, this very instant. I'm wearing sweatpants, shin socks and a short sleeve t-shirt and shivering in a 68 degree house. I am certain that I'm not alone. I feel at ease with the entity now, and I know he knows no harm onto me. All it meant, for what I can speculate, is that it was not something to be joked about or deemed mythological. it wanted me to treat it just as I would another human. It goes without saying that I full heartily do now, and as a result it does so in kind onto me. You may be obliged to where you stand on the paranormal, reader, for I have no intention to change your beliefs. But just keep in mind; an experience like mine isn't something you can just shrug off and forget about. And neither is this cold. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to grab a sweater- it is seriously freezing in here.

Sleep tight!