Author: parkas3

Hello! This blog is about my weekend and what I did!

Last Thursday, I got a big haircut for the first time in years. I’ve been wanting a change in my life, so I decided to cut most of it off. My hair now is not even that short but because I am not used to this length, I feel like I have a bob cut. Ever since middle school, I’ve always had long hair so cutting it refreshing and liberating. As of now, I’m getting kinda used to it, but not really. I do regret cutting my hair but I know it’s a nice change and it’ll grow back… just very slowly.  Then on Friday, I went down to Virginia Tech with couple of my friends. I have been texting my best friend who goes there, as if I was sending down a package, so she should be on the look out. After the 3 hour car ride, I pretended that I got a message saying the package was outside her door and that she should go out and get it. However, instead of a package it was me! 🙂 It was so nice seeing her after not seeing her in a while. She was so surprised and tried fitting a hundred words in one sentence. She was so excited to show me around Blacksburg, and it was a completely different vibe than here.

Virginia Tech is such a beautiful school and area, but after living in Richmond, I do not think I could see myself there. Even she agreed that the vibe and atmosphere in Richmond is so much more lively and fun! However, I must admit that their dining hall is AMAZING. What our dining hall offers is incomparable to theirs. It truly feels like I’m eating at a restaurant, as each place serves different types of food. Going from steak and mashed potatoes, to burritos and pasta. It was truly the prime of my first ever visit at Tech… and seeing my best friend.

As I left Sunday morning, it was quite  bittersweet because it felt like the weekend had passed in just couple of hours, but it was nice being back in Richmond. After spending time in Blacksburg, my love for Richmond truly grew. There is just so many things to do here, and I am so excited to explore more parts of RVA and make more memories here.

 

This blog is about the seriousness of how our world is crumbling and how we are putting so many animals on the brink of extinction.

About two weeks ago, as I was scrolling through my twitter feed. I came across a video that was captioned as “this is what we have come to”. As I clicked on it out of curiosity, I did not realize the impact it would leave on me. The video that left tears running down my face, was about the unforgiving mistakes us humans have done to the world. Currently, there are more than 16,300 endangered species in the world, and most of them are the animals we all knew since we were a child.

The video was an animated video that had four of the most endangered species singing a song called “Dream”. Where in the beginning it showed them living their best life, not worrying about a single thing. Then showed how the moments human entered, everything went wrong. Humans are the reason the world is dying and we never know when something really bad is going to happen. Us humans are poaching and hunting down animals just for a small part of their body to make profit out of. We are skinning animals alive to use their fur as coats, and we are killing animals like they are not living things like us humans. The earth becomes more polluted day by day, as people are treating it like it’s nothing and will somehow replace itself. Our ocean has turned from once a beautiful, open sea, into a oil pool full of plastic and trash. Our amazing sea turtles are endangered as they are consuming plastic in mistake of thinking it as food. They choke and slowly die from the mistakes humans don’t even think twice about. We are destroying the earth and it’s beautiful land and no one is realizing it.

The Arctic Ocean has melted more than 95% of its oldest ice as it has been melting at a rapid pace for the first time in over 1,500 years. This is resulting in the crazy weather we have been having. Global warming has been on the rise faster than ever because of these melting ice caps. We are experiencing weather go from 40 degrees, to 74 the next day. However, the giant polar bears that live in the Arctic are now on the brink of becoming endangered, because us humans have destroyed their homes. Animals like tigers, lions, giant pandas, blue whales, gorilla, orangutan, and so many more, are already endangered or on the brink of becoming one. All these animals were a part of our childhood as we learned about them at a young age, and never thought of anything about them disappearing. However, this is what the world has come too. In around 50-70 years, generations that will be born then, will never know what those amazing animals were. It is truly sad and disgusting that us humans treat the earth like this. I really hope the government takes action now because time is running out.

Please watch these videos, as it is truly an eye opener.

For this week’s blog, I have decided to write about the story I want to tell. This  story is for those who have trouble coping with their loved ones that have passed, and to reassure them that no matter what, they will always be there with them.

On March 15th 2018, my beloved uncle passed away after a month of being diagnosed with acute liver cancer. He was a fishing loving, humorous, most humble man. I never knew the day I saw him lying weakly on his bed watching his favorite fishing show, would be the last time I saw him smile. He was man that never smoked or drank alcohol, so his cause of caner is still a mystery to me. Why does the worst things happen to the best people? He should’ve been the last person on earth to pass away with such pain. In the middle of February, is when we noticed he was a bit more tired and gloomy. We all thought it was just a seasonal cold, as he kept telling us that he was okay and not worry. Until one day, his weight kept suddenly dropping, and he was just skin and bones. That’s when we rushed him to the hospital and was informed by the doctors that the tiny tumor that wouldn’t even show up on an MIT scan,  has spread throughout his entire body. The only treatment was to make his last months on earth the happiest man he could be.

So as we held back our tears when we saw this once a bright, healthy, happy man be as thin and exhausted like a skeleton, still trying to make those around him happy. We did as much as we could to give him the strength so he can have the life he deserved. I knew the day he passed, that he would still always be here and watch over me, but I really never knew since I never had a love one pass away. Until one day, I had a dream where I saw a glimpse of him. I always think about him everyday, but for some reason on that day, it was as if I knew he was near me.

Later that night around 9, I took my dog out for a walk as I was bored and wanted to get some fresh air. As we started walking, I noticed the sky was full of bright stars. My uncle would always take my cousins and I for walk, and he would always choose the brightest one and say “look that one’s you”. So as I stared at the sky, I said a prayer and a message in hopes he would look over  be proud of me. As I looked up and said “can you hear me”, I saw a star directly in the middle of two trees that lies in front of my path, start blinking. At first I thought it was an airplane or some sort of telephone line, but as I stared and stood there admiring its brightness. I knew that it was no airplane or telephone line, but my beloved uncle showing his sign that he’s there and listening.

Man created their own reality, as we all experience life differently. No one will ever understand someone else’s struggles even if they claim to understand.  There are many factors to how our lives unfold but it is all determined from ourselves. Culture can influence our lives because us humans all try to follow the “norms”. Our beliefs are based off what we were taught which is what formed a society’s culture. We have so many different cultures because every area of the world is different, with different religions, types of people, or technology advancement. Society has taken a huge toll on the growth of self individuality on everybody. It has sucked in everyone to think the same, act the same, and even talk the same. There is rarely any originality and uniqueness in today’s world. We are all the same popularity and fame chasers, as dreaming big now means what can get you the most money. The saying “money can’t buy happiness” has become something that is false in today’s society. The advancement of technology has saved and ruined the world.

It has saved the world, because it has found the cures to many illnesses and diseases, but it has destroyed our world as well as we are forgetting about the importance of our planet and more about the use of a phone. The young generation sit on their electrical devices,  learning how to entertain themselves with a touch of their fingertips. They no longer go outside and learn the games their parents used to play and and let their creativities flow. Instead they rely on technology to teach them, instead of what their parent’s and ancestors teach them. Culture is passed down by ancestors, as we share it to one another so that others can learn. However, technology has now become the major role in society, as the use of media affects people’s initial thoughts and impressions on culture based topics. What we see is being portrayed and how we think things is all because of how society shapes and “want” us to think.

Man can create their own reality but it’s all up to society to decide whether it’s controversial or not. The flaw is that us humans, go around claiming one thing is right over the other, but there is no actual way for us to say that because everything started as a thought. Science can tell us that we as humans are the same under our skin no matter who we are or what we believe in.  However, innovations affects our thoughts and perceptions.

I’m not a huge fan of reading so I was quite bummed out when I was told that the class needed to read a book over the break. I wanted to just relax and get away from anything school related. However, I found myself picking up the book out of curiosity when I was bored at home doing nothing. I must admit, I tried to read the book at a much faster pace then usual because I wanted to get it over with, so there are places and details where I am not completely confident about or able to remember. Rereading this book will be my chance to fully understand the real meaning behind Mieville’s text.

As soon as the novel started, I was caught off guard as Borlu started talking about a dead woman. I usually, never read books unless it is required or I have a lot of free time, but this is the first book I have ever read that involved murder. It was kinda like a breath of fresh air as it was a completely different genre of book I would normally read. Having that said, the book was very intriguing and interesting from the first chapter. As the story continued, I noticed the way Mieville added bits and phrases of words after saying something, that felt as if we were reading his thoughts. It made me feel like I was being told the story straight from himself. That was one thing I really enjoyed from this novel.  Another thing I really liked was the storyline and all the twists and turns Mieville added. The timeline of everything happening fitted in perfectly, where there was never really a time where the novel got boring,

However, the one of the main things I did not like about this novel is that I had to reread sentences and paragraphs over and over again due to be confused by Mieville word use. He uses very interesting word choices that makes the whole story confusing and most times not make sense when you first read it. I feel like that was the main reason the book was a bit unenjoyable to read. Another reason is that there were many characters incorporated in this novel, that led me to be confused with names and whose who. Overall, this novel was very interesting and enjoyable to read most of the time. I also felt as if it was  somewhat realistic. I believe that in a world like today, this sort of situation could happen anytime. I feel like Mieville has some sort of deeper meaning behind the over all story he is trying to get his readers to catch. Like relating to the hate in the world and how it has caused the separation of people from it.

Welcome to Rampages.us.

This is your first post. Does it make you sad you didn’t write it? You can change that. Write something better. Change the world. You are lucky enough to be in a position to do that. Make the most of it.