The Mind Map

Thanksgiving

mindmap23 — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 06:13:01 +0000

Normally when this time of year comes around I get really excited for the newspaper ads and the turkey and every other type of food that I normally consume on Thanksgiving. This year is a bit different though. I am finding myself less excited about eating food and am not really sure if I even care about going to celebrate with my family. With all the running around I did yesterday and the constant battle I seem to have at work, I feel like I would be much happier having a quiet day with Danielle and looking at ads and maybe buying items online. I need a break of some sort from practically everything. The engagement party went well, quite a few people showed up and we had a good time but I was sick and it really took a hit to my health. But with the party, having my dad’s side over here last Sunday for “Thanksgiving” and doing homework and work this week, I could use a day of relaxation and peace and quiet.

In other news, Danielle and I bought a bed set for $69. I thought it was an amazing deal and she got her 15% off on top of that so it was super cheap. I guess it didn’t come with sheets so we’ll need to get those but I’m sure we can get a good deal on them sometime. We’ve also been looking at furniture and apparently she found a coffee table, end table and TV stand that all match that she loves. I like the TV stand so I’m not too worried about liking the rest of it. The crazy part is, with the sofas I’ve seen online that I like, we could easily spend around $1,000 and have all the furniture we need. We already have a queen sized bed with matching vanity and dresser from her house and her grandma gave her an older table set. She also has a bedside table, not sure if it matches the rest of the bed set. I have a desk too. All we really need is a TV stand, coffee table and an end table or two for the living room. I’ll be pretty pumped if we get these sofas because they are SOOO cheap. I think they are $475 each and HOM has 25% off regular prices through Sunday so we might have to jump on those.

Other than that my dad is in the hospital again, apparently the doctor says he never should have left when he was there last week and she was pretty upset that he left after a day. We aren’t sure when he’ll be back home, I guess it could be tomorrow morning or this weekend, time will tell. I just hope he’s getting better, he hid how bad he felt from my mom and that never produces anything but problems and hospital visits.

I’m really excited to get to bed because I don’t feel that I’ve had a good night’s sleep in a while and I really want to experience that tonight. Hopefully we can find some awesome deals and gift ideas tomorrow and maybe do a little shopping Friday if needed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Life Lately

mindmap23 — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:50:08 +0000

I’m writing this right now when I should probably be doing other things like homework or that Spanish test that is due a bit later. The reason I’m writing despite other things to do is because I feel like I can’t focus on those things right now. Lately I feel like a lot has been going on that has been demanding my attention and it’s all built up and been brought to a head. It seems that the moments I have to myself are not really my own at all. When I have a spare moment to relax or let my mind wander and think about nothing, it seems to wander back into thoughts of moving out or looking at rings or money. While all of these things mean something wonderful is happening, it also means there is a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it all. Due to this lack of time, my mind feels it necessary to occupy itself with thoughts like this constantly, making even simple tasks difficult to focus on.

This added level of distraction has made my productivity take a hit and it’s made getting homework and other school related activities much more difficult. I don’t blame these things for my lack of motivation towards school or think that these events should not take place, I just wish they didn’t occupy so much of my time. I wish that they didn’t take away time from other things and then make me feel stressed out to the point of wanting to just give up on school. It’s been a difficult semester within itself. Working full time and taking 15 credits at school has proven to be a bit more than I can chew. Regardless, these new plans are not helping anything and are hindering my ability to get school work done.

I just wish I could go back in time and take one less class, or not take Spanish (which is pretty much the most retarded set-up I’ve ever experienced with an online class.) Since I can’t, I have to deal with the stress and pressure and try to get out alive. I cannot wait for this semester to be over though. When it is over it will mean so many wonderful things and will allow me to focus more of my attention on things of the future, big life related things, things that I cannot wait for. So while this was just a ramble about my chaos, which may seem like nothing, it has helped to get it onto virtual paper.

Christian Music

mindmap23 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:33:56 +0000

Music is something I really love; I love to sing and I really loved playing the bass when I was on the worship team for my youth group. I believe it is something that can send a message very effectively but it is also a form of expression. It is something that can stir up emotions and bring back memories. Overall, music is amazing and I love listening to it.

I understand that everyone has genres that they enjoy and others that they do not enjoy or even hate. For myself, country music is something I can not stand. The twang and the message and the instruments, it all equals horrible to me and when I hear it I cringe. For those who enjoy country music, I used to be one of you but I can not listen to it anymore. There are some other genres that I do not particularly care for but I want to focus on one that really bothers me.

Christian Music.

This type of music is what you will hear on the Christian stations, it is the Newsboys, Chris Tomlin, Barlow Girl, Jeremy Camp. These all qualify because they consider themselves “Christian Music.” Why it has a genre all to itself, because it is horrible and the only way it could survive in the secular world is to label it by the people who make it. If you go into Best Buy you will not find a “Secular Music” section and a “Christian Music” section, only the latter because it is its own genre. It has a distinct sound and it is usually very unpopular with the secular world. As far as I understand, this music is supposed to be a medium to spread the word of God and save the lost, which it is not doing because only Christians listen to it. Christians like it and then they pass it around in their church or with friends and it never reaches people who are unsaved and only listen to secular music.

What is really hard to understand is why it sucks so bad. Christian music should have God hovering over it and it should be the best music because of that blessing, but it is not. Secular music far surpasses Christian music and is heard by a much larger group of people. Not only that, but genres of secular music are found WITHIN Christian music, which makes no sense because they should compete in their own genre in the secular world. But they can not, because it does not come close to comparing to their secular counterparts. So Christian Rock becomes its own genre because it is Christian music with a rockish feel but can not compete with secular rock. This furthers the cycle of no one being reached by it because even if it is good, no one outside of the Christian community ever hears it.

A band by the name of Flyleaf exhibits what Christian music should be. Flyleaf explained that they are Christians in a band and they did not want to be labeled Christian music. They have their reasons for that but the point is that they are technically a “Christian band” but they are not on a Christian label so they fall under the secular genre of rock. Their music has become popular in the secular world yet Christians can relate to it and see the message in it. This is how Christian music should be, but is not.

As mentioned before, music is amazing and it is a powerful tool. A song on the radio can relate to someone or connect people who happen to be humming it on the bus. It also represents how people are presented, and music as of late has been very degrading to women and shows the promiscuity of the world and fuels the idea that it is okay and acceptable because everyone else is doing it. Imagine if the music that people hummed or got stuck in their heads came from Christians. What if the message songs gave hope and life instead of encouraging a lifestyle that is destructive to one’s self and to others? Music impacts people, why not let it impact them in a positive way.

Frustration with Verizon

mindmap23 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:15:42 +0000

Today I discovered something that I find completely ridiculous. I have been searching for a new phone on Verizon since my New Every Two will allow me to upgrade at the end of the month. For the last few months I was set on the EnV Touch, a touch screen/hardware keyboard phone. Then I came across the Motorola Droid, which I thought would be amazing, until I looked at a few hands-on articles and videos. After being dissatisfied with the Droid, I discovered that Verizon was hiding another Android device, the Droid Eris. I quickly fell in love with this phone and decided that it would, in fact, become my next phone at the end of the month. This is where the frustration takes place.

After school today I stopped by a Verizon store to get a first look at the Eris in person. I loved it, the size, the weight, the feel, the overall performance of the phone and the price, it was everything I wanted in a phone. Now, I had spent quite a bit of time looking up articles and videos and anything I could find on this device, and everyone has been saying the same thing, that it is a great alternative to the Moto Droid, etc. So while in the store, I began to think about some of the applications that are available on these Android devices, such as Google Maps. Types of services that require some sort of internet connectivity to be useful, and I began pondering how that would affect my calling plan. Being the curious person I am, and the somewhat impulsive person I am, I decided to ask an employee about it.

I am having a very hard time understanding where Verizon is coming from on this issue. Their policy on PDA’s and smart phones is that any of these devices require a data plan. Why? I understand that people’s main purpose for these phones is to use the applications and what not, but should that not be up to the user? Obviously if I am forced into paying for this service I will use it, but otherwise I really do not need it, so why am I not given an option to have this or not like any other phone? This would not even be as big of a deal if the cheapest data plan was not 30 dollars more, a month than I pay now. It is completely ridiculous and I am extremely irritated with Verizon. I found the phone I wanted and they are taking it away from me by forcing me into some data plan that I do not even want at the moment. So now I have to decide what to do, which means weighing options and trying to find another phone that I like WITHOUT requiring a data plan.

‘Mind Map’

mindmap23 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:20:39 +0000

You have no idea who I am and that is perfectly okay. Hopefully as I begin to blog more, there will be some people who are interested in what I have to say. This blog is a bit of an experiment for myself but also an attempt to strengthen my writing skills. I am still unsure of what the purpose of this will be but I do have a few ideas for what I could write about so hopefully some of those work out.

One thing I will go into briefly is my user name. ‘Mindmap23′ is a strange name to some but let me explain. There is a dual meaning behind the name, one of which is from my life and the other has to do with the blog. For my life it is what I call this ‘mental map’ type thing I have while driving. I have a somewhat photographic memory in some instances and when it comes to directions I have made mental pictures of roads and what they connect to. The best example I can give is if you have ever used Google Maps and use the orange guy to zoom in and get an ‘in the car’ view point, that is what my ‘mind map’ is. I can see what the area would look like on a number of roads and also know how they connect and which connections would get me to my destination fastest.

As for this blog, my user name refers to the thoughts and ideas that I hope to be putting on here. I hope for it to serve as a sort of mapping of things in my mind. My mind is very active all the time, constantly thinking about something, so this blog will serve as an expression of what I have been thinking about. Also, I hope it will serve as a way to connect all of my thoughts, not just to make a post make sense but also to connect posts together to get a grander scheme of things.

That is all I have for now, if someone has happened to discover me already, 1. I am quite amazed, 2. I hope you choose to stick around, and 3. Thanks for taking the time to read this.