Month: November 2012

Rebecca’s Outlook

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

(The following is a work of fiction)

I walk into my third-grade classroom with my head down, my eyes purposely averting the stares of my fellow classmates. I sit down in the back, alone, as usual. My classmates began avoiding me long ago, and truthfully I am thankful for it.

The teacher comes into the room, a bright smile on her face. She’s young, and this is only her third year teaching. As she begins the lesson, she glances to me. I notice the moment of hesitation in her voice as he takes in my bruised eye, before she continues on with what she was saying before.

This isn’t the first time I have come to school bruised, and I know that at recess I’ll be pulled aside and asked what has happened. I’ll give the usual answer, “I ran into something,” or “I tripped.” But the excuse barely worked the last time, and I know that this time it will be harder to cover for Daddy.

As I suspected, I am pulled from the bench where I sit and eat, and taken to the principal’s office. When I walk in I notice the young lady sitting across from Mrs. Wilkon, easily making small talk.

The next hour goes as I suspected, with the young social worker asking me questions about my dad and what it’s like at home, with Mrs. Wilkon looking on.

By the end of it, I’m not so confident that they won’t be taking Daddy away from me this time. I consider this as I make my way home after school, retreating immediately to my bedroom upon walking in the door. That way Daddy doesn’t know I’m home, and can’t blame me for anything.

I go to school the next morning as usual, and the day after that as well. I’ve begun to relax, having not heard anything of the events a few days before. Then a week after everything has happened, I am once again called into Mrs. Wilkons office.

The social worker is there once again, and she explains to me in a calm voice that I am being moved to a foster family who lives nearby. She takes me home, and waits patiently while I pack my few belongings.

Daddy isn’t home, and she explains to me that he won’t be coming back for a very long time. I”m not very sad about it. We lost Mommy to cancer years ago, and since then Daddy hasn’t been the same. But now it’s just me, Rebecca, who’s still here.

It doesn’t take very long to get to the foster family’s house, and once we’re there I’m lead inside and introduced to my new parents and siblings. They show me the house, and finally my room, leaving me to unpack and settle in. They have a nice house, and seem like a nice family.

I don’t think I mind them too much.

It takes me a while to adjust to my new life, and especially to stop being so nervous all the time. My new family is nice, and they explained to me that they would never hit me like Daddy did if anything went wrong. I even find myself relaxing.

And I think to myself, I could get used to this.

Choices

callmemaybe321 Comment

I have been thinking a lot lately about what my future is going to be like.

Not as a grown adult, but where I want to go to college, what I want to study, and what about sports?

Thinking about what’s going to go into getting in to the schools I want to go to, and if I will be able to do it.

It’s a lot to be thinking about, there are so many choices we have to make even at the young age of 16, but I have realized the future is really up to me and how hard I want to work.

I have always been the kid who doesn’t put in the effort, and I come out with a few As and a few Bs.

I have realized I need to start actually trying to put in more effort to make it all As, instead of sitting on my butt when I have free time, maybe I should study more, and get work done before sunday night.

Maybe that means I can sleep more seeing as my schedule right now is crazy.

That brings me to the other thing I have been thinking about.

It was just last year that sports started to mean something to me again.

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Water, our great fear

frog3Leave a comment

rfrg

Water, without it we have no life.

It covers are planet in an eternal blue dye.

Whether ice or steam it will always be here.

Water, without it, we would have great fear.

Fear that our planet will be devoid of all life.

Water soothes and protects healing all wounds.

It possesses a power more pure than the moon.

Be warned waters power is fearsome and great.

It can decide our people’s fate.

Water rising and twisting, overwhelming the coast.

We must realize that water is our host.

A host that is spreading over our land.

Depopulating the areas of all man.

We must all share in one true fear.

Fear that our planet will be devoid of all life.

Blues-y Blues

smackyjackjack1 Comment

In the past, I’ve blogged about all-time greatest guitar player Robert Johnson. But I mean, its pretty hard to cover the blues in just one blog. In this one, I’ll try to go over just a few of my favorite blues players.

Firstly, I want to just bring up Sister Rosetta Tharpe. If you could, picture Chuck Berry as a Baptist woman. Except instead of an ES3-35, she had an SG. Yeah. Like this guy.

It’s pretty hard to get much cooler than Angus Young or Sister Tharpe. Set your sights high kids! Don’t believe me?


Now you do.

Now, I always think about what my “desert island” albums would be (5 albums I can take to be stranded on a desert island with), and they always change. But one constant is Super Blues.

Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Otis Spann. I really don’t see what else needs to be said about this album. If you don’t have it, go get it. Well, I mean, only if you like music I guess.

Okay, one last person, but just because his new album just came out. Gary Clark Jr. takes the cake for one of the best NEW blues artists going right now. Blak and Blu came out on Oct. 25th, and, consequently, is the only album I’ve ever pre-ordered.  Clark has some serious soul in this album, swinging between R&B to old school blues. Go get it, but here’s a taste (at the Crossroads festival no less).

Plague Inc.-Fun but Deadly!

backinphilly2 Comments

While reviewing my most recent blog, I came to the mindset that maybe I should write something that’s got nothing to do with sports!

I know you’re all surprised but this is pretty cool. I recently downloaded a new app on my iPad called “Plague Inc.”. This simulator enables the player to take control of their very own disease and attempt to infect and (end result) completely annihilate the entire human race. Imagine sending the humans into complete extinction.

Considering I’m not human (ha), I see literally no controversy of any kind with this game. It’s not like you’re running around with guns and blowing the heads off of zombies. There’s no gore whatsoever. There’s no blood. The only thing possibly traumatic about this game is the principle that you are, in fact eliminating everyone on the planet.

There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m gonna talk a little bit about some problems I see with the game.

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The Jaguar E Type

displacedlocalLeave a comment

The 1961 Jaguar E type is my favorite car of all time.

Its looks feel as though they were forged by the wind flowing over it at high speed. The wheel arches flow over the tires like rapids pass over stones in a river.

The “barely there” bumper looks as though it is trying to hold back the beast that is the E type.

Classic 60s english car design elegance. The whole car seems to be in perfect proportion. From the opening in the front to the taillights. This car exudes beauty more than any car I have ever seen.

Alas, this car was built in the 60s and there have been many advancements in both manufacturing quality and safety. So this beauty was tarnished by the ages. The more “modern” E type, the 1974, was ruined by some of the most atrocious bumpers I have ever seen in my entire life.
A company named Eagle thought that this was a poor way to say goodbye to one of the most gorgeous cars of all time. They chose to modernize the car. Keep the classic look, but revamp what is under the hood. It turned out exactly as I had hoped.

This is near perfection. The bumper was done away with altogether. The car looks smoother than I ever could have thought.

This is a dream come true in vehicular form.

Don’t Worry About It

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

This past Saturday our football team had our last league game against the Laguna Blanca Owls.

Contrary to how I was feeling going into this game, and what I wished had happened, we did not end up winning, but lost our fifth consecutive game.

Sadly this season came to an end sooner than I had hoped, and not the way I wanted to leave the field.

We finished with a final score of 44-26.

That is much closer than some games we have played, and once again we played a great second half, but it takes more than that to win football games.

We did not start off with a defense that was aggressive enough to set the tone early.

While we did stuff many plays, the Owls were able to put points up with more ease than they should have had.

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Here We Go Again!

backinphilly1 Comment

Well, this sucks. The Eagles, once again, are underachieving. Despite the firing of ex-defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, the Eagles have once again fallen far from expectations. The team just doesn’t look solid, and we are close to the halfway point.

One major red flag was this past weekend. The Eagles, with Andy Reid as head coach, have never lost a game following their bye week. This year was a different story. The team looked even sloppier following their bye, almost as if they hadn’t put in any extra work to help their cause.

I don’t blame this recent loss on Michael Vick. I blame this one on coaching and defense. I do not blame new DC Todd Bowles. He was given two weeks to turn a lackluster unit and completely transform them. That’s a tall task considering how much star power the defense has.

Let’s go down the list.

Jason Babin has been horrendous. He hasn’t been able to get to the quarterback at all this season. He’s far behind his 18.5 sack mark from last year.

The other defensive end, Trent Cole, hasn’t had any success either. However, if both pieces can improve, the entire defense will improve as well.

I now turn the attention to one of the most incredible busts (although still somewhat too soon to tell) I think I’ve ever seen.

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Small Things Lover.

eternity1030Leave a comment

I am always obsessed with the small things.

According to Guinness World Records, the smallest horse in the world is a horse named Tamberlina of the U.S. state of Missouri.

However, this little guy may soon take its place. Born in April 2010, in Barnstead, New Hampshire, the three-day old pinto stallion, Einstein, is just 14 inches high and weighs only an incredible 6lbs.

Dr Rachel Wagner, Einstein’s co-owner, claims that “the Guinness Book of Records lists the smallest newborn horse as weighing just 9lbs.”

From Oprah to travelling across the U.S. it has certainly been an eventful first year for Einstein, the world’s smallest stallion, as he approaches his birthday.

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Country!

smackyjackjackLeave a comment

You have to hand it to them, country music singers can say some pretty stupid stuff.

That right there is one of my favorite clips on youtube. When even the three stooges on Fox and Friends make weird faces at what you say, you know you’ve got some problems.

But other than the F-150-driving, ‘Murica-loving xenophobes like Hank Williams Jr. and Toby Keith country has some pretty awesome musicians. Hank Williams SENIOR, Jimmie Rodgers and even, to a point, Johnny Cash know how to carry a tune.  As far as the greatest songs of ALL TIME go, I’m so lonesome I could cry is up in the top three. TB Blues makes it up there too (just go listen to the slide on that song).

As far as “new” country goes (I put new in italics because it’s not really new), BR5-49 takes the cake as the best. This type of country can be enjoyed by every Prius driving, Cafe Late drinking xenophobe who likes good music. Just…forget about Hank Williams Jr. and listen to some good country.