Blogging — for me

It looks like I’m coming up on my last blog. It’s been a long journey, but my blogging time is coming to an end. This really begged the question of me, what should my last blog be about? I wanted to have it be truly something that would make people think and just sit down a bit as they read it. I ended up deciding on this: I was gonna blog about blogging.

What exactly am I focusing on about blogging though? Let me start with me because I’m selfish. I honestly blogging has been fun and a great place to really jot down my thoughts. I really think that I was able to make this thing what I originally intended for it to be—a place where I can truly dive into the heart of topics and formulate my own opinions about things and maybe even shed those opinions onto others in the process. Lets be honest, though, I haven’t ALWAYS enjoyed writing these. Take right now for example as I write this thing an hour before its due, just hoping that I’ll finish in time to get 100%. You see that’s the thing, this blog was pushed onto us in such a way that it was made not as enjoyable with all the due dates and harsh requirements that we had to meet (I say “we” meaning us as a 9^th grade English class). It begs a few questions, like, would we even blog if we had no deadline or grade weight? I’m gonna be honest and answer for nearly everyone by saying no, we wouldn’t. Here’s another question: did this help anyone to find a passion for blogging or was it just “busywork”? I cannot answer this one for everybody, but as for me, I did enjoy this a lot more than I thought I would. It gives you a really weird feeling knowing that whatever you write will be seen by someone else, maybe even someone you don’t know. That being said, I cannot go so far as to say that I will continue doing this in the future after it doesn’t count as part of my grade anymore.

Do you know anyone that actually enjoys blogging? I know someone who actually went pretty far into the blogging world and co-owned a pretty big blog. I don’t remember what exactly it was about, but I do recall that it had to do with something I wasn’t very interested in. That’s the weird part about blogging. You can have what seems like the most boring blog in the world, but if you give some effort on it, there’s bound to be ONE person in the blogging world that will stumble upon your work at one point in their reading and find it interesting and boom, you have a follower. Too bad the real world (as opposed to the virtual blogging world) is not as accepting as that. It seems like there is a box built around certain things that you can’t “make it” in unless you’re a pro. For example, I have a friend who is an amazing artist and this person is stuck not knowing what to do because her passion is not as accepted in this world as is, lets say, someone with a love for biology. I feel like the blogging world is much more accepting when it comes to something like that than is the true reality, so thank you for that blogging world 🙂

Another amazing thing about blogging is the diversity in what can be accepted as a “blog”. Some of my best friends have blogs and we’re all very different when it comes to what we blog about. I have one friend whose blog is all about short stories that he writes. I have another friend who comments on music for a blog. Heck, I even know some people in my class that run meme pages as their blog. The blogging world is so open into what they accept and do not accept that it’s like ANYTHING you can think about can be blogged.

Here’s the main point I’m driving at: YOU can write a blog to. It’s easy, simple, free, and fun! Literally all you need to do is go to www.wordpress.com and follow their instructions. You’ll find yourself the proud owner of a blog in NO time! Remember, you can blog about ANYTHING and as long as you give it the right tags, you can have yourself a bunch of followers too! What are you waiting for?? Go give it a try!

 

End Ad for WordPress.com here.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for the great run 😀

Jake

Childhood vs. Adulthood

Isn’t it funny how–at least for me–as kids, we wished we were adults or at least older kids? I remember how one of my parents’ main reasons for why I couldn’t do something was because I was too young. My parents and everyone older than me always told me to cherish my youth and not wish desperately to be older. They said to enjoy the time that I’m in elementary school and don’t have lots of homework. I was told to develop my passions and get even better at what I was good at. “Don’t waste this time wishing you were already older,” everyone would tell me. “You have no idea the responsibilities and stress that comes with age and maturity. Have fun NOW because later, you may not be able to.”

But I couldn’t do that.

I remember that I had a friend who was a year older than me come over once and my mom CLEARLY put more ice cream in the cup that she gave to him and I was super upset. “Mom, how come Bartholomew (not his actual name lol) gets more ice cream than I do?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That’s not fairrrrrrr…” My mom replied, “He’s older and needs to eat more. When you’re his age, you can have that much ice cream too.” To make matters worse, “Bartholomew’s” brother, Alfred (Once again not his actual name lol), was there too and he was a year younger than me. He didn’t want all of his ice cream and told my mom. My mom decided to give it to BARTHOLOMEW and NOT TO ME even though he already had more ice cream to start with. That was one of the main events that led to me desperately wishing time could fly so that I can have larger portions of ice cream and that I’d have the freedom to drive and not have to obey these “strict” parents that I have that don’t let me do anything fun.

Still, my parents fought for my good by helping me to not waste my youth. They put me in music classes where I developed the skills to play the instruments that I do play. They taught me the values of church and being a true Christian so that I would be a better person and that I would be used by The Lord in whatever he sees fit for me to do. They taught me the importance of education and helped me to become a good scholar with good grades to ensure a future full of opportunities for myself. They taught me respect for others and being polite to those who are older than I. They taught me how to be social and make the friends that I have. They taught me how to have good, clean fun and to be a funny person. They taught me how to manage my money and not overspend. All of these are things that today I cannot live without, nor would I be able to learn had it not been taught to me in my early-er years.

Of course, I didn’t think of it that way. I saw everything that they were doing as if was solely to destroy me and to keep me in their limits. I hated the fact that I was restrained and not allowed to be my own person. I saw our family Bible Devotions as plain boring and wished I could be doing something else. I hated the fact that they wouldn’t buy me the latest video-game consoles, because it wasn’t like they didn’t have the money. Music lessons made me so mad and so depressed sometimes because I just wasn’t very good at what I was doing, and I saw my parents as cruel people for making me do all of those.

Now, I look sometimes at my little sister and I’m filled with envy. I wish I was her age again. I wish she could understand the things that I’m trying to tell her, to enjoy being young and not having to worry about school projects, money, TIME. But then I stop and realize that it won’t work–she will not understand. After all, I didn’t. I didn’t listen to those who told me to cherish my youth, so she won’t listen to me either. She doesn’t realize the stress that comes with getting older. The late nights you need to spend in order to finish your homework; the real problems that come towards you as opposed to the pointless drama you faced when you were a kid; the addictions that you may fall into if you’re not strong enough to withstand their tug. Ah, if only she could understand.

Jasmine, if you’re reading this, please take into account what I’ve said. Don’t be upset with mom and dad. Be careful, but have fun. Don’t waste your time away, because you will not get any minutes you spend back. I can’t wait for the day when you will come to me and say the words, “You were right”. You’ll see 🙂

El Clasico

The biggest sports rivalry in the world.

The two best teams in the world.

April 13rd, 2017. 11:45 AM PST.

Real Madrid vs. Barcelona.

El Clasico.

What a game. It did not fall short of all the hype built around it. The top two teams in La Liga battling it out with nothing short of the league title on the line.

Here’s the background info to the match: Barcelona (the team I have always supported :D) came into the game 3 points behind Real Madrid and Madrid also had a game in hand. The match was also played at Real Madrid’s home stadium, the Santiago Bernabeu. Both of the teams played a game during the week before the game. Real Madrid played against Bayern Munich on Tuesday and Barcelona played Juventus on Wednesday. If you didn’t notice, Real Madrid also had an extra day of rest. Real Madrid won their Bayern game 4-2 with an impressive comeback from being down 1-2. (That is not mentioning the fact that 2 of Real’s goals were from offside positions). This meant that they finished with a confident 6-3 aggregate with both quarter-final legs in the Champions League and therefore moved on to the semi-final stage. Barcelona on the other hand tied Juve 0-0 and therefore lost with an agg. score of 0-3 and were knocked out of the Champions League. How to take this information is up to you, but I saw it as Barca having crushed hopes as they came into the match. Also, Barca’s Neymar, who is regarded as the third best player in the world, is banned from the match. Gareth Bale was pronounced healthy enough to play the Clasico.

Next lets discuss the actual match. Real Madrid started the match with an impressive display of offence as they were in Barca’s half for very much of the first half. Cristiano Ronaldo had a penalty claim that was turned down by the ref in the first few minutes of the game. I personally think that it was not a penalty because although there was contact from Umtiti, the ball was too far from Ronaldo to be a pen. Ter Stegen had to make very many saves to keep his side in the game. Messi destroyed Casemiro early on and Casemiro lashed out and got himself an early yellow. Marcelo elbowed Messi and sent him down with a bloody mouth and forced Messi to play with a tissue in his mouth to stop the blood. Then in the 28^th minute, Ramos received a killer pass from Marcelo (who was purely on fire the entire game) and he got it around Ter Stegen into the post, which deflected to the other side of the goal to Casemiro who had an easy tap in for a goal. Although ugly, Madrid were happy to be 1-0 up to their “eternal rivals”. It only took 5 minutes for Messi to put his team on his shoulders as he created a beautiful solo goal that saw his side come back to 1-1. Gareth Bale’s injury was too much for him to handle and he needed to get subbed off in the 38^th minute. Then came half time and Barca from the start came out ready to get on top of this game. After many chances from both sides, Rakitic scored an absolute banger from outside the box in the 73^rd minute to bring the visitors back on top. To make the match even more exciting, Sergio Ramos came out with a leg-breaking tackle on Lionel Messi that saw him receive a straight red (his 22^nd for Real Madrid) which left Madrid in 10 men for the most intense part of the game. Yet Barca had an extremely poor reaction to this as they started playing really sloppy defense. One commentator even said, “Real Madrid may have one player down, but it seems like they have 2 more than Barcelona”. James Rodriguez got an amazing pass from the one-and-only Marcelo and put that in the back of the net to bring it back to 2-2 in the 85^th minute which sort of let everyone know that the game was going to finish at a tie. But then Real Madrid got a bit cocky and decided to play with their hearts and not their heads and sent too many numbers up forward in the last few minutes of the game. Sergi Roberto got an interception and brought it all the way up to the opposing box, gave a pass to Andre Gomes, who waited and gave a pass to Jordi Alba, who one-touch passed it to Messi in the Madrid box, and Messi buried it in the back of the net with the last kick of the match and sent his team home with a W and a 2-3 victory. Plus, he gave the most iconic Messi moment to date in which he took off his shirt (and got a yellow for it) and showed it to all the Real Madrid fans to see, all for his 500th career goal. 

SOOO now that the game is over, what does it mean for the two teams? Well, Barcelona is now in first place in La Liga but Real Madrid have a game in hand. This means that in order for Barcelona to win the title, they need to win all of their games (which is a tough schedule by the way) and Real Madrid needs to lose one of their games. The most Real Madrid can afford to slack off is to draw one of their games, and that would mean that they would win the league by one point. Funny how all of that can happen just because some players wanted to win for pride instead of playing it safe with a draw and solidifying their hold on the league title. I guess the moral for this blog is to not always think with your heart, but use your head to lol.

I hope that you guys don’t mind that I changed up this post a little bit. I thought that maybe some people did not know that I was a soccer fan and I wanted to let a few of my emotions go on here. Please like, comment, and share this blog if you enjoyed!

Jake 😀

Gossip

Gossip.

This is a topic that truly gave me a lot to think about. It seems like it has infiltrated our daily  lives in such a way that we don’t even realize that we are gossiping. But wait a minute—is gossiping WRONG? If so, how come? Why is it so enjoyable to do then? If not, why does it feel tense when the person you were talking about walks by? Why is there sometimes guilt when you talk to that person later? In this blog, I will do my best to answer some of these questions and maybe some more based on truths that I found apparent in my life.

I would first like to answer this first and, in my opinion, most important question. Is gossiping WRONG? Some may argue that it depends on what kind of gossip. For example, if you are talking about one’s current physical condition (i.e. someone is in the hospital) then there is no harm done, right? While on the other hand, if you are talking about how bad an individual did when you played basketball with them, you could really offend the person so it’s bad gossip. That’s a solid argument in my book. Personally, I do believe that there is some truth to that. Due to my strong belief in Christianity, I turn to the Bible to get the answers to questions that I have difficulties answering. Here is a good link with 100 Bible verses about gossip. After reading a few of these, it is VERY difficult to still argue that gossip is good, but the previous example can still stand within the boundaries set by the Bible. Ephesians 4:29 in the ESV says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” What is this saying? Gossip that is just plain bad and will not build anyone up but is just corrupting those around you is EVIL. DO NOT DO IT. On the contrary, Paul commands us to build one another up. But then I ask myself, is there such thing as GOOD gossip? Let me give you an example. A while ago I was speaking with the youth pastor at our church (who happens to also be named Paul) about some things that were going on in my life. During that talk, he told me of one or two stories about people in our church that I did not necessarily NEED to know, but they were used as a moral to teach me how to get through what was going on (it is worth mentioning that he did not do this with any testimony, only ones that he was given permission to tell by the individuals who had the stories). I believe that it is these kinds of situations where we are permitted to say things that we normally wouldn’t because they “[fit] the occasion, that it [gives] grace to those who hear it” (Ephesians 4:29 ESV). Therefore, there is a bit of a gray area in which gossiping can be beneficial.

So then why is gossiping so enjoyable? And why is there a guilt factor to it? I say we go back to the Bible. Hebrews 11:25 talks about the “pleasures of sin”. So sin, although wrong, FEELS good. Just because something feels good, does that make it right? If a thief’s hobby is stealing and loves doing so, does that make it moral? Of course not! In the same way, gossiping may make us feel warm and fuzzy, but that does not mean that we should do it. I believe that the same evidence answers the second question posed in this paragraph as well. Why is there guilt? BECAUSE ITS STILL WRONG. The same way that you (hopefully) feel guilty when you lie to your parents because you know its wrong, you should feel guilty when you gossip and see the person because you basically lied to them in the face by speaking behind their back.

Where’s the limit then? What can/can’t we say? I didn’t find a Bible verse to back this next statement up except for “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31 NIV). This can only be applied here to some extent though. For example, I like to roast people in such a way that they know I’m joking and I love it when people roast me too. I was born with thicker skin in that respect. I also know that (sadly) I am one of the few born this way. Many times I find myself saying things that I know I would laugh at if they were being said to me, but the person I am talking to takes serious offence. I know it sucks for me, but I am still the one at fault for saying those things, even though I treated others the way that I wanted to be treated. Therefore, I have come up with the following solution: don’t say things behind peoples’ back that you wouldn’t say to their face. And even then, make sure that it is necessary to say those things. That last part is really important. Two days ago, there was some sort of conflict between two individuals at a park while we were playing volleyball. It got pretty heated at one moment and although it resolved without violence, one cannot really say that it was peaceful resolution. I bring this up because yesterday night I was with a group of friends and one of them that was present at the day prior’s event asked me about my opinion of what had occurred. I was about to answer and then I stopped myself and thought, What is the point of me saying this? Is there any point, or am I just adding more wood on the fire? I politely answered to the friend that asked me the question, “I do have an opinion on what happened, but I do not see the point of stating it. I think that this would just be gossip and is not something that is necessary to be spoken about.” I was scared as to what this individual would reply to me at this point. I thought I for sure made myself out to be a sissy. Yet to my surprise, they answered “Hey, I can respect that. You’re right.” I was amazed. It seemed that I had earned myself more respect by answering in that manner than I would have if I answered her question!

I tell you all of these things in hopes that you would truly consider the things that I have written about. I ask you to truly examine yourselves and your stance on this topic. Are you the one that gossips? If so, take James 1:26 into account: “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” Or are you one who spends their time with gossipers and slanderers? I warn you from the bottom of my heart, for we all know those types of people. The ones that you need to watch yourself and your tongue extra carefully with because you know that nothing is safe with them. The Wise King Solomon writes in Proverbs, “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.” Examine your friends and see if you are in the right crowd of people. If you find yourself not to be, I’m not saying to dump the bad friends and say nothing to them, but instead I urge you for your own benefit to not stay so close to them.

Thanks for reading,

Jake 😀