Not gonna be here so this isn't about discussion this is about raving

I officially have to say that some people are pissing me off in this world. I hate how people change and friends change and people act like who they are not. High school is full of so many phoneys and its completely lame. It's time for people to be themselves. I don't want to sound coldhearted, but if you are constantly worrying about making everyone else in the world happy at the expense of yourself, you are being both a terrible friend and hurting yourself. When you don't give someone the chance to know who you truly are and give them an opportunity to meet you with all of your unique talents and abilities, you are insulting and hurting them along with any possible friendship. You hurt yourself because in the tide of trying to be accepted, or in the effort of trying to be nice you don't stay honest to who you are. Now what good does that do anybody?? I would say that is no good, no good whatsoever.

Another thing which pisses me off is the comment "people can't help their feelings". Someone I really look up to said to me the other day when they said they couldn't get somebody because they would never like them. It really pissed me off. People can help their feelings, people can determine what they think and feel about different people, how you perceive someone is entirely up to you and your own mind. What you think of someone is entirely up to you in your mind. you may not be able to control whether or not someone looks attractive, that can be all hormones, but you can control whether or not you give people a fair chance. Someone can help their feelings, to say they can't is being naive. It's also using hormones as a scapegoat. Honest fact is, anybody can get anybody to like them at any point in time if they just expose the right part of themselves, and I honest to God believe that.

everyone have a nice week, I will probably have more people disagreeing and pissed off with me when I get back due to this post, but I honestly don't care at the moment. I want people to know that I am upset so I am saying it. Get pissed back but respect the fact that I am willing to say it for the whole world to read.

Possibly the most infamous quesion I know of

Paper or plastic???

I personally prefer plastic since we keep every plastic bag we get from the stores and then just use them whenever we need to carry stuff around, plus plastic in my opinion just looks better.

:)

Okay this post should be fun.

Going along with my Republican beliefs I have to discuss the war in Iraq. Now I am assuming that most of you know this already, but I am 100% for the war in Iraq. Maybe even more then that. I know that war is not a great thing, and that it should not be embarked upon lightly, however I feel that this war is a good thing in that it freed an oppressed people from oppression and is trying to help stabilize the region. Now I know that for the current moment the entire situation isn't what could be classified as stable, however in 20 years maybe the entire Middle East will cease to be a ticking time bomb and things will be peaceful because of the steps we are taking now. More then just that, it feels like a good thing to bring Democracy to other people who have never had the freedom to be themselves. I would just like to add that for anyone who says that the Iraqi's don't want to be freed, that is not true. 95% of Iraqi's do want to be free and do appreciate the American forces being present in Iraq to help free their country. It's only that 5% which doesn't which we hear about, so we automatically assume that the entire nation doesn't want us there. That is entirely untrue ( I learned all of this from a soldier who has been in Iraq, fought in Iraq and appreciated what he did for his country). While President Bush did enter the nation under false pretenses, the war is still justifiable in my eyes and that alone makes the cause worth fighting for. I don't like the loss of American lives at all, but ultimately there will be have to be peace in the Middle East, better 1,500 now then 1,400,000 in 20 years.

I wasn't expecting to do this but I want more debate!!!

So since my previous post from today literally exploded with comments, I decided to write a brand new one for the day.

I'm kinda tired so this one will need to be quick.

I don't think this will spark quite the debate as the last one, but I think it has the potential to be controversial if thought of in the proper manner.

The issue: Bill of Rights Clarification: 1st Amendment

I personally think of the rights guaranteed all Americans in the Bill of Rights or more specifically for this matter in the 1st Amendment, the Right to free speech is the most important. While the right to vote is also an important right (not one guaranteed by the 1st Amendment however), I think that voting an official into office would mean nothing if you then couldn't complain about how they handle office. No other right do I believe is so important to American existence. so my question to you all is... of the 1st Amendment Rights (you could do others if you really wish to), which one do you think is the most important to either yourself or Americans on the whole. Is it: freedom to peaceably assemble, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to petition???


I would just like to add on a freelancers note here, thank you everyone for your opinions, I really appreciate everyones comments no matter where you stand on an issue. :)

Good times

All right, I know that many people have already wrote their opinions on this point in the last post, but I want more debate on this topic specifically. I have basically given up on ever updating with life stories because to be honest, I don't think people really read it anyways. They just glance over it, or at least I do. So forget my life, lets focus on your opinions.

The death penalty. As of this moment in the United States, there are no federal laws prohibiting or allowing the death penalty. The Supreme Court has ruled that so far the death penalty is something that can be determined in each individual state. Thats pretty nice of the Federal Government if you ask me.

I personally am for the death penalty. I know that some people may be wrongfully accused and I don't like, especially if it was me. Then again, people can be wrongfully accused and then still spend 20 years in prison. Like that is a huge improvement...that is for you to personally judge. I have two reaons for supporting the death penalty though; for one, it's infinitely more cost effective then holding people in high security prisons (which can still somehow be broken out of) for decades. Did you know, that the Federal Government paid more then $41 billion as in 41,000,000,000 dollars in order to upkeep the nations prisons in the year 2000 (http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/punishing/punishing.html). Each successive year, the number of prisoners has risen, so therefore have the costs. It's a lot easier to take out a bit of lead sinide and inject someone, or a 25 cent bullet can do the job to. I personally think that 41 billion dollars can be better spent on things such as education, construction, research, and crime prevention.

My other reason for supporting the death penalty is because of the obvious nature that few people want to die. If you are a criminal, or at least someone who would be at risk for the death penalty, I know that I would personally think twice about committing a capital offense that could possibly lead to the death penalty. It acts as a deterrent to prevent people from committing crimes. Or at least murder. Shy of rape though, I don't know a more heinous crime then murder.

I don't like the idea of killing people, however if these costs continue to rise at astronomical rates, along with the number of inmates increasing annually, something needs to be done.

Ahh the first day of summer brings with it lovely issues

School ended today! :) Party it up.

But before that, how about some lovely discussions. I love arguing so lets get right down to it.

Now as I would hope many of you have been able to realize or hopefully know about me already, I am a very liberal person, therefore I love to give you my opinion and I have a very hard time backing down from my beliefs. I would also like to add that that doesn't mean it's impossible to change my beliefs. If someone points out something tha t is completely obvious to me and it makes sense, then I will change to match that and so on. Now I bet you are wondering what this all has to do with anything. Well in cas e you couldn't tell I'm a major Republican. At least on the serious issues, such as abortion, cloning, and stem cell research. The major case there is abortion.

Now I mostly stick to Republican beliefs not because of my parents (which by the way have split their election votes nearly every time between both parties) but because of the fact that I can't vote in somebody who will then allow abortions to be federally legal. Oh and gay marriage too. That is a religious belief, but I will never stand to let that be legal. The mere thought is repulsing to me. However I will be honest, Republican's have two issues which I absolutely 100% can't agree with. The biggest one in my mind is that they don't conserve the environment. President Bush seems to have no thought of the environment in his policies, which is a pity because the environment is not permanent. It needs to be protected. The other topic is big business, or the fact that Republicans have a bad tendency to forget the little man, and favor big business. I don't agree with that. My point in this post is basically to say what I am and why I am what I am. So then my question to you all is, what are you and why (if you don't want to share why don't, if you don't want to say what then don't.) Thanks for your time.

To the greatest person I have ever known

I would first like to start this out by saying that Andy is not the only one I am talking about on here today. He is however, the only one I am giving a full post to by himself. I encourage you to scroll down and read the others as well.

Andy "Ish" Ashenden. That name to so many people symbolizes a great runner, someone who has gone to a national track meet and done astoundingly well. To others, it represents the individual with amazing drive, the passion to push through pain in order to succeed. To me, it is both of these, but more so, it is a wonderful friend, a man of powerful faith, and an individual with more heart and class then anyone else I know.
I first learned about Andy's amazing abilities in running from Nicky, over summer my freshman year. It was the first time that we had gone to a summer run for XC and Nicky told me about how good his brother was. When I went on the run I honestly mistook Andy for Aman, seeing as how Nicky and Aman look shockingly alike. For roughly 3 weeks, I thought Aman was Nicky's brother. It didn't help that Aman's first name is also Andy. Eventually however, I learned the real Andy Ashenden, and that has been a great honor in my life.
Throughout the past two years, after literally running with Andy daily, I have been able to see his enourmous faith in action, along with his humble nature and quality leadership ablilities. During training sessions, there were often times debates over different perspectives, or sometimes insults that cut a bit too deep; Andy was always the first to put an end to unnecessary insults and apologize for any action he took part in it. He lead by example, and backed up what he said. Most importantly, he was always willing to listen if you had a problem and if not offer advice, just be there to listen.
The thing I will remember the most about Andy though, more then all the running titles and all of the memories even, is his faith. It never ceases to amaze me how someone can have such an abundant faith with what seems like no doubts. I marvel at how much a part of his life it is and I hope someday I could be like that. It really has made a tremendous impact upon me and I am eternally grateful for that.
Ultimately there are more things that I wish I could say here, but for the sake of time and space, I can't say everything I would like to say on here. I will just leave you with this...

Andy you have been the greatest role model in my entire life. I look up to you as being a great friend, a great runner, a great person, and as an individual who lives your faith everyday in your life and has made it not just a part of your life but your entire life. I have tried to learn as much as I can from you because you are a wonderful person and I hope that someday I will be half the man you are. If that was the case, I would be satisfied with myself. I want to wish you the best of luck at Stevents Point and in track there, along with the rest of your life. I know you will do just fine. Thank you so much for everything you have done, especially catching me when I faint on you. Good Luck Andy :)

With friends such as you, words can not explain nor express how much I care about all of you

Tomorrow is senior Graduation. Tomorrow, some of the greatest people I have ever had the privelege of knowing are leaving our high school. Not necessarily our world, but our high school. I would like to say a few words about each of them here, and if I have left anyone out, please forgive me for I do not intend to.


Aman, Andy Aman :) . Ohhh one of the first people to ever tell me "tu chupas" ( I actually do believe you were first). Running with you in Cross Country and Track was most definitely wonderful times. You will always be our football Quarterback, and no one can beat you in the 15 meter dash (except when you trip haha). Playing poker together, occassionally running together (when you decided to show up :P), and the good times with the tennis balls. Never letting me play on your cross ball team (that hurts to this day), among many other things. Thank you for everything Aman, you have been a tremendous friend and role model to me, and I am forever grateful; best of wishes to you.

Alex "Wiz" Wieczorek. One of the most interestedly talented kids that I have ever known. No one can jump higher, nor climb walls quite like you can Wiz. You have way too much fun in Chemistry, which was helpful several times throughout the year and I appreciated that immensely. Playing Risk with you was awesome, even if Lucas was a wuss and quit on us. I will miss all of the training days with you, and the winter workouts which were far too cold and far too annoying to be considered a blast, yet they were still fun. Have a wonderful summer and good luck in college. :)

Erica Brooks. Ohhh the good times. I know you will never see this Erica, but still I feel compelled to give you a share of the memories. First and foremost, prom of course. :) It was one of the best nights of my life, with or without the boot. I am so grateful that you asked me to go with you Erica, I hope it was a wonderful time for you as well. Along with that, chess with you was a blast (even though you beat me once :P) and the musical with you being my crew leader :). Not to mention the XC and track seasons with the team dinners and all the other get togethers. I hope you still play chess with me this summer, and I also wish you a fantastic college experience. Keep in touch Erica, best wishes, and keep on smiling :) .

Kris Solverson. While I wish I could say as much for you as I have for everyone else here, the sad fact is that I haven't gotten the opportunity to know you as well as I have everyone else. However from what I have gotten to know and the times that I have hung out with you, you are an awesome guy. Poker with you at both the Ashendens and Nygel's was a blast, not to mention everyday at lunch with Bret Steiner. You aren't afraid to voice your opinion, and I really respect that. It has been a pleasure getting to know you Kris and I wish you a wonderful summer. Good luck :) .

Abby "the angel" Ashenden. If there is one person in this world whom I would trust with anything, it would have to be you Abby. I don't know of any other person who is so nice and sweet as you are. Whenever I have had a problem with something, or someone, or just a problem in general, you have always been there to either help or listen. I can't tell you how nice that is. Then there is Cross Country with you. I remember distinctly the first time I ever met you. It was roughly the 3rd week of June in between my 8th grade and freshman year in high school. It was 9:30 at night and we were down at the Gazebo to run, and you and Angie were there, along with Nicky, Andy, Kyle Steiner, Aman, and myself. You asked me what my name was, and I said Jeffrey. Then Angie asked me if that was like "Geoffrey the Giraffe". And from then on you called me that. I will never forget that for all of my life. You are a wonderful person Abby, I can't tell you how much I have appreciated getting to know you. Please come back and visit often, and I hope and know you will have a wonderful life. Enjoy yourself and keep on shining Abby. You have been a great blessing in my life :)


I would like to wish each of you, and Andy above, a wonderful summer, college experience and life beyond Grafton. I will never forget you, nor the impact you have all had upon my life. God Bless you all and best of luck.

It takes a being whose truly special to create a world like this

Somethings in this world, they are just plain beautiful

Words can't describe what God can do, nor what he will do for me or for you. I feel that life is truly a precious commodity. Life is worth more then any transition metal in this world. Along those lines however, I feel that the world God created is a priceless treasure which has so many miracles that I don't think its possible to even see 1% of them all. I would like to try though, in some way or another, to see all of the world that I can, every country, every wonder, everything that I can in my lifetime. I only get to experience the wonder of God's great Earth one time, and I want to make the most of that one time. I want to revel in the wonders of his love (aka- the world we live in). Please everyone make the most of your lives. There is not a single person I know who doesn't have the great potential to change this world for the better. All of you have amazing talents and I pray that all of you utilize those talents because you are all truly extraordinary people. Best of wishes as your summers start, and God Bless each and every one of you,

Sincerely Jeffrey

Because you will never know how much this hurts

Let me just start this off by asking for forgiveness for some of the things that I have said throughout the day today, since I'm sure God has not been overtly enthused with my vocabulary (nor my thought process for that matter).

Next let me touch upon the main point of the day today. Not too overdramatize or anything, but today was absolutely without a doubt a horrendously shitty day. I say shitty because that is the only adjective I wish to use in describing today. I only use swears when they are necessary in an adjective form so please understand that today sucked. I went back to the orthopedic surgeon today in order to have a "check-up" on my completely broken right middle metatarsal (try saying that out loud). I had anticipated being able to walk out of the hospital with two pairs of shoes on, thus I brought a right shoe for myself to wear afterwords. I did not foresee the possibility of wearing the boot for another 2 weeks and then not being able to run until roughly the early portion of July. But that is the current situation, heck I will be lucky if they let me run a 5K by the time August rolls around. Basically the best way to put this is that while I will be able to walk again next week Friday, I will not be able to run again for roughly a month. Worst of all, this could destroy my next Cross Country season. I know that to the rest of you, taking off for these two months would be no big deal, but for everyday that I get up and can't run, I feel like I wasted a day. I go to bed angry with myself, completely unsatisfied. i feel like I was given an ability, a talent that God doesn't give to everybody, and that every day I can't go out and run, I am abusing that ability. Everyday that I can't go out there and do the activity that I love is another day where I feel hollow inside. Today is one of the only days of my entire life where I have thought of hurting myself, somehow or other I wanted to make my body truly feel pain, not just some little meager broken metatarsal. Now don't worry, I'm not suicidal nor am i some psychotic freak, but when the doctor was explaining the entire process to me today, every word was like a knife in my heart. As he continued speaking, I felt worse and worse; as each phrase came past it was jamming the knife in deeper and deeper. All I wanted to do was punch something, a window, a chair, a desk, hit something, something that I could look at and say "YES!! Now that is a reason to have pain and be impaired, not because of some small screwed up bone in my stupid foot from running." I don't really know what to tell you now, it's been maybe 40 minutes and yet I feel more like shit as I keep thinking about how much I will lose this way. I won't even get a month and a half of training this summer for Cross Country. It will kill me. One way or another, this will tear me apart.


wow and to think I mentioned overdramatizing life in a post not too long ago. This is really lame. Then again, what else do I have to stand for, people only know me as a runner, I only know myself as a runner, it's how I have defined my life. Goes to show that being shallow on the inside can lead a weak foundation on the outside.

First Day Quarcks

Saturday was my first day on the job at Shopko... Let me give you the front line story for my evening.

I'm being instructed on how to cashier (i work sales floor though) and Scott the pro dude is watching me work the register (yes you can work a register). Anyways, I'm checking out my 10th customer (see how i know this, I am a noob and keep track :P) I believe in trying to keep things as lively as possible up there in order to prevent the awkward silence that can come while shopping so I am talking to the guy asking him questions about whatever random crap may be on my mind and he pays for his one small boxlike item and I give him change and do my normal "Thank you and have a nice weekend." comment. Anyways, Scott behind me is having a fit of laughter when I turn around. I ask him what the heck is up with him, and he goes on to ask me if I knew what I had just sold that guy. I say no, and he tells me, "You were talking away with that guy like there was nothing weird at all, didn't you see the fact that he was buying a 12 pack of condoms??" Let's just say I burst out laughing at the thought that I had been wishing this guy a nice weekend when I should have wished him a good night ;)

How low can you go??

I would like to start this off simply by saying thank you to anyone who answered my last post, while nobody really liked what I had to say (which is perfectly all right I am a bit extreme on that subject), I really do appreciate when all of you leave comments. It brightens my day whenever I see a new comment, no matter how different it may be. So really thank you for that.

And now, for the grand moment of another raving fest. Enjoy :>


Lately I have been doing some thinking about people I have met in this world. Like flat out thinking about people's personalities. I won't mention any names in this post, nor will I try to point anybody nor their actions out. If I do, please understand it is coincidental and not meant in the least to be an insult nor a direct burn in your/their direction. I am only saying what I think and this being my blog that is my right. If you still take offense by something, either write a response or bring it up to me in person. I will be glad to talk about it/explain were I am coming from.

There is this trait in high school which I ultimately have come to despise. It's when people act fake. As in, they don't act like themselves. It really upsets me because everyone was created with a purpose, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT TO BE SOMEONE OR SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE NOT?? I don't understand it, like when some people pretend that they like you, or that they are your friend, yet the minute you are out of earshot, they turn on you. Without regard to the fact that you are human and deserve respect, they will say whatever trash they really wish to about you. Or when (and this is a sad generalization but please understand I can only see this from my own personal experiences) girls lead a guy on all because they feel they can control their emotions. Why?? What makes you think that doesn't hurt?? I know that the sad part about this is that any girl who will read this isn't one who needs to see it. Still, not all guys are out only for the physical aspects of a relationship. Not every guy is just trying to "Get into your pants". Some of us, we want someone we can trust, we can talk to, laugh with, have fun with, trust, and be close to. I personally feel that trying to get a girl friend is extremely difficult because I always have to ask myself just how much I can trust a girl. I know that some people don't mean to, that some are just flirtatious in nature, but people have no right to toy with someone elses emotions just because it makes them feel better about themselves. Yes I'm sure it is nice to have complete control over people sometimes, and feel like you are a superior being, but in the end all it does is show how insecure you really truly are. I realize that I have gotten a bit off of my original topic but that really doesn't matter to me because in the end I have gotten to a topic I have always wanted to discuss anyways. I'm sure its not just girls who do this, I mean I know that guys have a bad tendency to use girls for just pure sex, and I completely despise this and frown upon it as well. I'm sorry that many girls have to go through that, but I can't answer for that. I can only ask that girls forgive us guys for sometimes we don't think and it hurts people. I am truly deeply sorry that anybody would have to suffer through that.

Looking back through this all, I would not hesitate to say that the answer to my question seems to have no limits. People truly have no limit to just how low they will go in order to make themselves feel better. How pitifully lame it is that they have to do that at others expense.