Blog 39

                Everyone went crazy this weekend.  Today is Halloween and everyone is relaxing.  It really doesn’t even feel like Halloween because it is so quiet.  The whole weekend felt like Halloween though.  In college if Halloween is on a Sunday, then it’s basically like Halloween is a weekend long event.  Even though it is Halloween tonight, everyone is taking a break, and getting back to their school work.  Luckily I really did not have much work to do over the weekend.  This past week is a different story.  Today actually felt like a long day.  I liked it.  It felt like I actually had time to do things.  Usually, I feel like the day is just way too short.  I will be doing something, and I look up at the time and hours passed by, but it felt like minutes.  I also think that the weeks move by extremely fast, especially the weekends.  I don’t mind too much that the weekdays fly by during the school year, but when I know I have something due on Friday, and it’s Monday, then I know that I don’t have much time at all to complete it, cause the day will be here in no time at all.

                I’m watching the World Series right now, and it just isn’t interesting.  It kind of sucks that the Giants are winning since I guess I am a little bit bitter towards them for beating my Phillies, but it’s okay they will be back next year.  I really want to see Cliff Lee win a world series.  I like him a lot, and he did so much for the Phils last year, and the Rangers this year, so he deserves it.

Blog 38

It gets harder and harder to figure out what I am going to blog about when we get to blog about anything.  Honestly I do like blogging about anything than to have to blog about whatever the professor tells us to blog about, but it is a lot harder to think of something good to blog about.  Ever since my Phillies lost, there hasn’t really been anything extremely exciting on my mind.  Also, I need to start commenting more on other people’s blogs.  I was doing really well with commenting, then all the sudden my schedule got extremely busy and so I am a little bit behind.  I’m thinking 20 comments behind.  I’ll make a comeback though.  I want the extra credit points.

I am ready to have a lot of fun tonight.  Last night was kind of a bust I think, but tonight is going to be better.  I have a feeling.  I think yesterday my costume was a bit better, but today my costume will work out for me better.  Last night my friend and I decided to be fruit of the loom.  I was the grape, and my friend was a banana.  I just blew up a whole bunch of purple balloons and taped it to a purple shirt.  It was a good outfit it’s just that random people kept popping my balloons throughout the night like I knew they would.  By the end of the night it was just me in a purple shirt.  Tonight I am going to be a ninja.  It’s less original, but it’s something.  And it should actually last me the entire night, so it should work out for me a little better.  We’ll have to see what happens.  I’m just ready to have fun.

Blog 37

                Today I had to finish my analytical research paper and turn it in.  To be honest, I’m kind of scared about it.  I’m scared because I know that our teacher is a tough grader.  I really want to do well in this class because I know that it will be one of the classes that I never have to think hard about in my life again.  If I major in engineering, what will it matter that I took English 110 in college.  I do understand that English is important to the communication from one person to another.  I would like to perfect my English skills so that whatever my job search is when I graduate college, I can be well rounded in whatever needs to get done.  It’s possible that I will be required to do a lot of writing with whatever my job ends up being.

                This week was unbelievably busy for me.  It feels like I made it through hell week.  I am extremely happy, and relieved to finally be done.  It was extremely stressful at times.  At times, I honestly did not think that I was going to be able to pull it off, but then again, I knew that if I kept working hard and did everything piece by piece, I would complete everything.  It’s the old question “Question: how do u eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time”  meaning you have to start somewhere, and eventually you will get it done.  I’m happy that I did.

Blog 36

                You worked hard in high school, you got good grades.  You got involved in everything you could possibly be involved in that wouldn’t affect your grades in a negative way.  The things you were involved in, u also thrived in.  Second to no one is the mindset that you had, and now it’s your senior year.  It is now time to take a big step and move on to college.  You already got into each college you applied to so now all you have to do is choose the one that you like the best.  It’s that easy.  You know which one you want, and you envision yourself there having a great time and striving to be the best there, just like how you once did in high school.  The only problem is the one college that you really want to go to turn out to be out of reach for your family.  Your parents just cannot afford it.  Not only can you not go to the college of your dreams, but you are forced to go to that safety school.  This is a school that you really do not want to go to.  You really only applied to this school because they sent you a free application in the mail, and when you actually get to that college, you hate it.  That’s a rough way to spend your first year in college, right?  It was for me.  Although I was in a horrible spot and it felt as if I downgraded from high school, I made sure it didn’t end this way.  I quickly started searching for ways to get out and go to a school that I would enjoy.  It wasn’t easy.  Sometimes it was almost like repeating the whole process over and over again, and still coming up with nothing, but now when I look back on it, I realize that it was the hard work and dedication that eventually got me out, and to a better college than what I originally wanted at first.  I learned quickly that with hard work, I can achieve greater things than I was originally striving for.

Blog 35

                I think that I might offend some PETA lovers with this blog, but this is just how I feel about the organization.  Today I read the article PETA: How the Messenger Kills the Message.  I honestly could not agree more with this article.  To be honest, I cannot stand PETA, and what PETA does.  In this article, the author goes on to talk about how she used to be a PETA supporter, but as time progressed and she saw the things that PETA gets involved in, she realized that the organization is pretty much insane.  She went on to explain the super bowl commercial that PETA made.  The commercial obviously did not get approved, but you can view the commercial here.  This commercial doesn’t even make sense to me.  I actually thought it was more funny than logical in my opinion.  There are girls on the commercial licking pumpkins and rubbing broccoli over their bodies, like some weird fetish, in order to say that animals should be respected like humans.  The funny thing is a more important species, a female human being, was disrespecting herself in the process.  Now she just looks like a slut on TV.  People may argue that Victoria’s Secret commercials are not much different, but the point is Victoria’s Secret is selling bras, not PETA.  There is a bit of a difference.  I think also think PETA stupid to think their commercial would get approved to be seen during the Super Bowl.  The reason I hate PETA is because of the way they do things.  Don’t get me wrong, in no way do I condone animal abuse, but don’t throw animal blood on celebrities who wear fur.  It doesn’t even make sense that they throw animal blood.  Don’t you have to kill an animal for that?  Does that not go against everything PETA believes in?  Another thing that I can’t stand is how PETA tries to make people, who are omnivores, feel extremely bad for eating meat.  That’s the way my body was made, to eat meat, so don’t try to make me feel bad for doing so, and if animals are the exact same as us, then go protest against lions for chasing down antelope and eating them alive.  Hey, at least when I eat meat, I make sure it’s dead on my plate.  Basically, it seems as if PETA lacks all intelligence in the way they go about doing things.  There are plenty of other organizations that are against animal abuse that handle themselves in a respectable way.  PETA has only made a bad name for themselves through their idiotic acts.

                Wow I wrote way over the required 250 words.  I guess I just like trashing on PETA.

Blog 34

                For my common place paper, I decided to make it so that this paper is a lot different than the other one.  I did not want it to be related to my Analytical Research paper much at all.  Basically I just picked something that was brought up in my last paper, and made a completely different argument that stems off of that point.

                After coming up with 37 different ideas in class, I was able to narrow it down to the one that I would like to do.  I would like to talk about the importance of fighting till the end to get what you want.  I would also like to state that tough moments in life make us better, so people should continue to fight, and strive for what they want.

                I think that this will be a good topic to write about, because it can relate to almost anyone.  I believe that because I will be writing this paper in a view that appeal to teenagers, and college students, it will be easy to understand because many teenagers and college students are faced with the task of striving until the end in order to get what they want.  I have a personal story that I can tell that relates to the topic of the paper so I believe that it will be appropriate to talk about it, and it could also be a little bit motivational to the point that I am trying to make.  This is a topic that I would much rather write about than the topic of the Analytical Research Paper, so I believe I will look forward to writing this paper.

Blog 33

                Today I was really stressed out about what I would like my major to be.  It is between aeronautical and astronautical engineering, or aviation management, which is basically a business major in the area of aviation.  The thing is I feel like I would enjoy the engineering major more, but it would be a lot tougher.  Usually this would not matter, and I would pick what I would like to do, but my major in college is pretty much a backup plan if I do not become a pilot.

                You are probably confused as to why my major is more of a backup plan.  I am a part of the Air Force ROTC and when it is time for me to join the Air Force, they will pick the students with top GPAs who want to become a pilot to do so.  The thing is, it is solely based on student’s GPAs.  It does not matter if one student who is a music major has a 4.0 or another student who is pre-med who has a 3.9, the student with the 4.0 will still be chosen first for the pilots spot.  My ultimate career goal is to become a pilot so I am not sure if I should risk the opportunity and go for engineering, or take the easier route and do aviation management.  If I do not get a pilots spot either way, I would rather have majored in engineering, but if I am not able to maintain a well enough GPA to be competitive, then I should definitely do aviation management.  Although I think I would enjoy the engineering major more, I still think that I would enjoy Aviation Management, but I’m still unsure on what I would like to do.  If anyone has any insight on what I should do, please let me know.  I need all of the advice I can get.

Blog 32

                So I am still mad about the fact that my Philadelphia Phillies lost yesterday which kicked them out of the playoffs.  If you have been reading any of my blogs, you will know that I am a huge Phillies Phan and that I was pretty upset yesterday.  Like I said in yesterday’s post, I am still very proud of the Phillies for making as far as they did, and I think they will be back next year also.  Now that the baseball season is over for me, I am fully invested into the National Football League.  Today the Philadelphia Eagles upset me.  I actually shouldn’t say the Eagles, it was one man on the Eagles that upset me, and will probably continue to upset me.  Kevin Kolb.  Now I understand that he had a pretty good game today, especially in the beginning, but as soon as the Eagles needed to score a touchdown and extra point in the last 5 minutes of the game, I knew that Kevin Kolb would blow it.  I actually told my roommate that he would throw an interception, and that is exactly what he did.  He threw an interception in the first play of the drive which was returned for a Titans touchdown.  The reason I do not like Kevin Kolb, is simply because in my opinion, he is not good.  He is extremely inconsistent.  He will play one great game, and then look like a middle school quarter back playing against an NFL team the next.  He also throws way to many interceptions.  That’s why I was able to say that he would throw an interception when we needed him the most.  I think we should have kept McNabb.  Obviously I like the Eagles, so I hope the best for Kevin Kolb, and I hope he does great on our team, he just has not proved that he is yet. GO EAGLES!!

Blog 31

Today the Phillies lost.  That is the only thing on my mind, so I need to blog about it.  Like a venting session I guess.  This loss ended their season.  They are out.  It’s over for them.  The San Francisco Giants will go to the World Series.  I honestly cannot believe the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Giants.  I know that we are the better team, we just didn’t perform.  We lost 3 of the games from our own mistakes.  Today was the only game that I think the giants legitimately outplayed us.  I think that we belong in the World Series, but we were beaten fair and square, and the Giants will continue through to the World Series.  Since I am from the Philadelphia area, a lot of my friends posted statuses on facebook about the Philadelphia loss.  Ryan Howard struck out looking which ended the game. A lot of my people are upset with him and saying things about him that for striking the way he did, but the way I see it is he gave us so much.  He drove in the most RBIs for the entire team this entire season.  He hit the most homeruns out of any of the Phillies, and he is the best cleanup batter anyone can ask for.  I don’t think anyone can be upset with him for the season he gave us.  I am really upset that Jason Werth may not be with us next season.  His contract was not extended, so he will become a free agent.  Jason Werth has done so much for us this season so I will miss him if he moves on to a different team.  I heard that he would like to stay with the city of Philadelphia, so I hope that they can work something out to keep him with the Phillies.  Either way, I believe the Phillies will make it to the World Series and win it all next year.  They will be a great team again, and they will want it even more than the wanted it this year.  I still love my Phillies!  Best team of all time!

Blog 30

                So today was a really fun day.  I didn’t even do anything special; I just hung out with a whole bunch of my friends from my dorm floor.  We pretty much just walked around and had a good time.  I was laughing the whole time with a lot of my close friends.  We all decided that we were going to relax tonight and not go out to party or anything.  At first we were going to, but when we realized we weren’t too much in the mood, and that we were all having a good time just hanging out with one another, we decided to stay in.  We went out to eat and we were being goofy as anything.  We went back to the dorms and just walked around and hung out.  We were about to watch a movie with each other, but we got pretty tired so we decided not to.  Earlier in the week, me and my one friend were going to go to the Day Glow event, but decided that we didn’t want to pay 30 dollars to get in.  It’s a very good thing that we decided not to go, because people told us that it was horrible.  They said that the first thirty minutes was fun, but when other people started to come, it just got way too crowded to the point where it wasn’t they didn’t even feel safe.  When they told me all of the reasons why it was horrible, I felt like I saved 30 dollars by deciding not to go.  My roommate went home this weekend, so my room is a bit lonely, but it’s cool to have the room to myself I guess.  I can’t wait for the Homecoming game versus Purdue University tomorrow.  I probably want to see this game almost as much as the Ohio State vs. Michigan game.  It will be a lot of fun.

Blog 29

                So I think that I pretty much got my paper figured out.  I finally got a good outline going so that it can be well structured.  I think it will take me a while to put everything together to make it as flawless as possible.  The one main thing that I think I have to work on is coming up with more to say about my real world connection.  I think that what I do have is good, but I just do not know if it will be enough to reach the seven page requirement for the paper.  After speaking to the professor about my argument, I decided that I should first start out by speaking about Buffy’s necessity to kill due to her destiny to protect the lives of innocent people from the vampires.  I will then relate that to a real world example on how certain people also have the ability to kill without consequence.  I will use the military to prove this point.  Next I will go back to Buffy to state that she does not always kill any vampire that she crosses.  I will use Angel to prove this.  I will say this because it depends on if Buffy thinks the person deserves to be killed.  Angel displays that he is not all evil, so Buffy decides to spare his life.  After I am done talking about Buffy, I will then move on to say how the real world examples also depend on whether or not certain people deserve to die.  I will use the death penalty to describe this.  Not everyone is charged with the death penalty, so I will relate this to how Buffy does not kill every single vampire. 

                The thing that I need help with is coming up with more to add.  I need to know what else I can say that relates the real world example with Buffy killing vampires, and the real world example with Buffy sparing the vampire’s lives.  Maybe if I had more real world examples to help argue my point, or if someone just has any ideas on how I can argue that my real world example relates to Buffy.  If you have an idea, please let me know.

Blog 28

                So I just got back from seeing standup comedian, Aziz Ansari.  He was performing at the Ohio Union.  I never really heard him before today, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect.  I’ve seen standup comedy just one other time in my life, and I thought it was a lot funnier than watching it on TV, so I was definitely excited about seeing a big name comedian in person while sharing a laugh with my good friends.  I honestly thought that he was hilarious.  My face hurts a little bit from smiling as much as I was.  I thought that it was kind of a stress reliever.  I wasn’t worried about all of the work I had to get done.  I was just laughing and reliving stress.  That’s why I’m happy our school has OUAB.  I feel like the activities, or performances that occur at Ohio State help the students relieve stress and perform to the best of their abilities.  If I had a huge final to study for the next day, then it would obviously be a different story.  My brother was jealous when he heard that I was at an Aziz Ansari show.  He said it was unfair that I had so much going on in the first few weeks at Ohio State.  He didn’t have this at the college he attended.  I keep laughing and smiling to myself when I think of some of the jokes Aziz was making.  Everyone was smiling when they left the performance.  The comedian put me in a good mood, until I came back to see my Phillies down 1 point. I have Phaith still!

Blog 27

Today was a pretty solid day.  I didn’t really do anything special, I just had a good time with my friends and doing whatever I needed to do.  It would have been even better if the Phillies did not lose.  The loss really did upset me for a while.  There is nothing worse than waiting to see your team beat a team in the playoffs to take the lead in the series, but when you turn on the TV and start watching, you notice that today, your team just is not going to win the game.  The worse thing about it is the Phillies didn’t even look like the Phillies out there.  They looked like a little league team.  It was honestly pretty embarrassing.  The next win is absolutely crucial because if the Giants win then they will take a 3-1 lead in the series and that would be very tough to come back on.  Of course I think my Phillies could still do it, but I would rather not be put in that situation.  Tomorrow, my Phillies have to do a lot better. Also, the Yankees lost, and that’s always nice.

Today was not as stressful as the other days, mostly because my midterms are pretty much over with.  I did not have too much homework to do either, so when I had free time to just hang out with my friends in the dorm, I did.  This is one of the reasons why I like College, because all of your friends are right there with you.  Today I was telling a group of people that an average day at Ohio State is a great day back at home, so I’m just happy to be here.  Tomorrow I need to really buckle down on this English paper.  I’m pretty lost on what exactly needs to be done, so I’ll probably be stressed out tomorrow trying to figure it out.

Blog 26

                I feel like by the end of the year when I have to blog about anything for a while, there will come a point where I will not know what to blog about.  This is probably the reason that I don’t blog on my own.  I need to start coming up with topics to blog about.

                Today wasn’t such a bad day.  It was the first day that I was not completely overloaded with homework.  I did have a math midterm today though which stressed me out a bit.  The good thing is I feel extremely confident about the test.  I think I aced it, but there is nothing worse than thinking you did great on a test, then getting it back and realizing that you didn’t do as well as you thought.  That’s why I don’t want to be too confident about it, but now I’ll just have to wait and see what I received as a grade.  I’m happy I don’t have to study too much today because I have a lot to do tomorrow and I will have to wake up at 5am tomorrow morning so it’s best I get to bed early tonight so I can be well rested for tomorrow.  The Yankees lost today.  I know that there are probably people who will hate me for hating the Yankees, but I just can’t help it.  I’m sorry.  I can’t wait to see my Phillies play the Giants again tomorrow in game 3.  I think we got this one.  GO PHILLIES!!

Blog 25

                Ohio State has already done some pretty big things since I’ve been here.  It has only been four weeks since I’ve been here in Ohio, and I already got to see 5 big time people, plus one more coming up on Wednesday.  Today, as everyone knows, the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama came to OSU and spoke on the main Oval.  He was also with Senator John Glenn, Michelle Obama, and John Legend.  Earlier in the year I got a chance to see Weezer perform live on the oval, and on Wednesday I will have the opportunity to see Aziz Ansari perform inside of the Ohio Union.  It’s pretty crazy that Ohio State can attract this many famous people in such a short period of time.  At my old college, it would be unheard of if the president of the United States was to show up, but when you go to a school like The Ohio State University, it’s a little bit easier to attract people such as this.  I am just extremely happy that I am able to be here, and also that I am able to witness the big things that Ohio State can do.  Obviously everyone is upset that the Buckeyes lost yesterday, but I’m still excited to be able to go to a university where our football team held the number one spot in the nation.  That is commendable.  Hopefully they grab the number one spot back.  We deserve it.  All in all, I’m just happy to be here at The Ohio State University.

Blog 24: Boring Day

                So today was an extremely boring day at Ohio State, but I feel like a boring day at Ohio State is a great day at other colleges, and a phenomenal day at home, so it’s all good.  I was really upset with my sports teams though.  Ohio state football played a really bad game.  I can’t believe we lost in that way versus Wisconsin.  It makes it worse that we lost our number one seed.  Hopefully we stay in top ten.  I think we can come back to the number one spot again though, depending on how the other teams do.  I would really like to go to the Purdue and Penn State games, so if anyone is trying to sell a ticket, please let me know.

                Even worse than the Ohio State football loss today, was that my Philadelphia Phillies lost.  In case you did not know, the Phillies are playing the Texas Rangers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS).  Today Phillies Roy Halliday pitched versus Rangers Tim Lincecum.  Both are arguably the best pitchers in the entire Major league of baseball.  The Phils lost by one point. 4-3, but I am not worried.  My Phillies have played great this whole year and I really can’t see the Rangers beating us 4 times before we do.  I have Phaith in my Phillies.  I say Phillies in 5.  I know some people might be a little bitter do to the fact that the Phillies swept the Cincinnati Reds to get to where they are now, and for that, I am sorry.  I feel bad.  But anyway, I am just interested in my Phillies winning the World Series.  I think they will do it this year. Just like 2008.

Blog 23

                I’ve got to say that blogging about anything is going to be a lot easier than blogging about a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode.  The only problem is, I will probably eventually run out of things to blog about.

                I’m really excited about this weekend.  I’m just going to relax.  It will be the first weekend that I decided to just chill out at Ohio State.  School work has been extremely hectic this past week with mid terms quizzes and papers to write.  It didn’t help that I joined ROTC for the Air Force, and I have to wake up at 5am two days a week.  I just can’t wait to get my sleep back.  Even my Friday night tonight was hectic with online homework, papers to turn in, and studying to do for more midterms coming up for next week.  I am exhausted.

                Even though I’m really tired, I love being here at Ohio State.  Although it is probably a lot more work than the old college I was at, I feel like this college is a better fit for me.  I have the urge to succeed here and have a great time, and I am.  There is not one thing that I can find seriously wrong with this college.  I’m having the time of my life.  This weekend is dead since all of the people in my dorm either went on the IA trip to Toronto, or went home for the weekend.  Going home for me isn’t an option since I live 7.5 hours away from here by car, near Philadelphia.  So yes, you guessed it, I’m a Phillies Phan.  I want them to take it all this year, just like they did in 2008.  I think they will.

Blog 22

                Today in class I finally came up with a legitimate argument for my paper.  I honestly had to change it five times to finally find one that I was satisfied with.  I changed my thesis three times today in class alone.  With this argument I believe that I can make my real world connection a lot better, and argue something that I actually do agree with instead of just making an argument just to complete an English paper.  The only downfall is I will pretty much have to start my entire paper over in order to match it up with my new thesis statement.

                My thesis is as follows.  Buffy’s necessity to kill in order to serve justice, and protect the lives of others is represented by people’s American rights and licenses to kill, which is set up to make today’s environment a safer place for all.

                This thesis will give me a lot more examples that come from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.  I think that the entire series will b able to fit in with the argument that I am making.  I am also able to better tie in the real world example which is American’s rights and licenses to kill.  This is displayed through self defense if someone’s life is in danger, and the licenses to kill that police officers, executioners, and military men contain.  After speaking with one of my peers, he told me that I should expand a bit more on the first statement of my thesis statement about Buffy having the necessity to kill.  I’m not too sure yet on how I can expand on it, but I think I will figure it out by tomorrow.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.  It would be much appreciated.

Blog 21: Quote Integration

The abolishment of the death penalty can be explained through human beings choosing to do the right thing.  If humans decide that they would like to live with proper morals, then humans will figure out that the death penalty should be abolished in the United States of America.   From life’s good morals, to the cost to carry out a proper execution, the death penalty just does not seem to make any sense.

                Good morals of a human being do not mean killing another human being no matter what the circumstance is.  It just doesn’t make much sense for one man to kill because another one has.  “…should we be killing people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong? It’s cruel and barbaric, not worthy of us.”  (Dellapiana, 4)  Are we really proving anybody wrong by taking the life of someone else although they have previously murdered?  We would only be sinking down to the level of the original killer.  It does not make us any better to kill someone even if that person is guilty of a heinous crime such as murder.  We must stick to our proper morals even when we are bothered by the wrong doings of other people.  Even in the Christian religion we are that taught killing is wrong, no matter what the situation, “In the New Testament, love and mercy replace retribution. As the Apostle Paul taught… Similarly, ‘Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.’ Id. at 12:19. So God has said he will handle the vengeance.” (Dellapiana, 5)  It is not up to us to decide who should be killed or not.  We just know that we are not the ones who should take the lives of another man.  We should leave these crimes up to God to handle.  The Christian faith clearly states that we should not take the life of another man which eliminates the argument of the death penalty being on the same side as religion.

Blog 20: Quote Integration

                After speaking with the teacher about my argument on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and how the episode “Inca Mummy Girl” brings up the question of what the cost of life is, I decided that I should change the argument up a little bit.  I found what I was doing a little bit confusing so I decided to base it off of Buffy instead of the mummy girl, Empada.  I will be arguing the fact that Buffy kills vampires and it is accepted by everyone.  I understand that to kill a vampire is nothing like killing a human being which is why I would like to argue the difference of killing someone who is innocent, and someone who is guilty of a crime such as someone who has been sentenced to the death penalty.  This will be my real world example.

                In the article, “Should We Put the Death Penalty on the Chopping Block?” I came across many quotes that help to make my argument.  One quote that I really liked was what the author decided to put quote by Maryland’s governor Martin O’ Malley

“The death penalty is fundamentally and irredeemably incompatible with the most important foundational truths of our republic [and] the fundamental civil and human rights bestowed on humankind by God.”  (Dellapiana, 4) This quote is good because it explains so much that is wrong with the death penalty in just one sentence.  This quote helps me argue that the death penalty goes against the foundational truths of this country, the fundamental civil and human rights, and the religious view on the death penalty.  I look forward to incorporating this quote into my paper because I believe it will give me so much to write about.  It will also help argue my point a little easier.

Blog 19: Fourth Article

                The article that I read today didn’t really teach me anything new.  It was pretty much the same as the other articles.  It honestly didn’t really help me come up with an arguable claim about the death penalty and the morals behind it.  I will have to read another article, and possibly replace this one so that it does allow me to relate it with the argument I am making a little bit better than this article does.  Although the article did not completely help me figure out a lot of additional information I can incorporate into my paper, I was able to find some pretty interesting information about the death penalty, and the public’s opinion on the death penalty. This article was written about the death penalty in China.  It stated that in certain situations were a criminal was sentenced to the death penalty; there have been instances where the public has asked for leniency from the death penalty for the criminal sentenced to it.  This struck my interest because most of the Chinese population is for the death penalty.  The article said that a little over 80% of the people of China agree with the death penalty, but at the same time, it looks as if these same people are asking for leniency for some who are sentenced to the death penalty.  Maybe this is because the death penalty in China is used too often for crimes that do not exactly deserve the death penalty.  Which crimes do deserve the death penalty?  In The United States, only the most severe crimes are deserving of the death penalty, but are our standards enough? I’m not sure, that is something I will have to look research.

Blog 18: Third Article

Today I read my 3^rd article which was about how the people of china stand on the controversial issue of the death penalty.  I was shocked to find out that it’s almost a unanimous decision on where they stand.  The public’s opinion is in favor of the death penalty.  I was expecting the majority to be for the death penalty, but not for it to be a unanimous decision.  When I read on, I came across something very important that affected the thought of the decision being unanimous.  In China, the public opinion does not really represent the entire populations viewpoints on a certain issue.  The article states, “All the Chinese are subjects of China. But they do not all belong to the category of the people. The people include the majority of Chinese who enjoy the rights and liberties as defined by the Common Programme of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and by other legal measures. Subjects who are excluded from the people do not enjoy these rights, but they must observe duties and obligations.”  I believe that this is saying that unless the person agrees with the foundation of Chinese beliefs, then their opinion does not really matter and does not count as the “public opinion”.  Personally, I still believe that this is the general opinion that most Chinese people do have.  I would like to do more research on how American people feel about the death penalty under the United States judicial system, but it was interesting to see how the people of another country feel about this hot topic.  I will still need to do more research in order to find out whether or not the death penalty is right or wrong.

Blog 17: Second Article

                Before I read this article, I was not looking forward to it.  I thought that it was going to be extremely boring and I would not enjoy reading it.  When I started to read it, my mind changed.  I found the article pretty interesting.  I enjoyed the topic that it was on which is why I decided to choose it.  The article is called “Should We Put the Death Penalty on the Chopping Block?”  The article was about the death penalty and why it should be eliminated in the United States.  I read the article with an open mind.  I am not sure exactly where I stand on the death penalty as of right now, but this article definitely caught my attention.

                The author is trying to get his point across to the reader that the death penalty does not make any sense.  He broke it up into seven questions about the death penalty and provided an answer with supporting evidence on how the death penalty was wrong.  He tried to hit all of the main questions, ranging from moral and religious feelings on the issue, to the costs and time it takes for an execution to take place.  The author used these common questions so that the reader can relate to it.  He also did it in a respectful way without adding too much emotion which would come off as too extreme or too far to one side.  I think this was done so that the reader can open up his or her mind to the issue instead of reading the article and refuting everything it says.

Blog 16: First Article

I decided to read the article “The Death Penalty and the Principle of Goodness”  I thought that this article would be a good source because it address the issue of the death penalty and it makes points as to whether it is right or wrong for the death penalty to be in existence.  This ties in perfectly to my argument about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because in the episode that I watched there is a girl that is cursed to die unless she takes the lives of other people.  She falls in love with Xander and would like to live a normal life with him.  There comes a point where she must kill in order to survive.  Xander steps in and asks her if she would kill him in order to survive.  She thinks about it for a moment, and then says yes.  Was it wrong for her to risk the lives of many other innocent people so that she may save her own?  I do not think so, but what about other situations, such as the death penalty?

                The article that I read addresses the issue of the death penalty because this is a similar issue.  It states that in today’s society, a man has a freedom of life, which is on the exact same level as one’s freedom of decision.  After reading this it dawned upon me that if someone makes certain decisions that violate the law, and good morals that they lose certain rights that they once had.  The article also asks what types of crimes are eligible for the death penalty.

This article caught my interest, and I am looking forward to writing my paper about this issue and eisode in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Blog 15: The Price of Life

After watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, I decided to write my paper on the second season episode 4 “Inca Mummy girl” I chose this episode because I found it very interesting that Empada wanted to live so bad that she was willing to sacrifice other lives in order to live hers.  She was also consistent with letting the viewer know that she wanted to live a normal life.  She did not want anything to go wrong while she was living in Sunnydale over the Hellmouth.

                I would like to do some further research about the will to live and how strong it is.  I would also like to touch points on how the general population feels about the cost of life.  What makes it okay to take a life? I would like to know how people feel about this controversial topic.  I think that it would be interesting if  I can find the statistics on peoples feelings towards the certain cost of life.

Ning, Zhang “Public Opinion and The Death Penalty Debate in China” China Perspectives (2010)

Dellapiana, Ralph “Should We Put the Death Penalty on the

Chopping Block?” Utah Bar Journal (2010)

House, Ron “The Death Penalty and the Principle of Goodness” International Journal of Human Rights (2009)

Kovandzic, Tomislav. Vieraitis, Lynne. Boots, Denise Paquette “Does The Death Penalty Save Lives?” Criminology and Public Policy (2009)

Jianwei, Zuo “The Influence of Public Opinion on the Application of the Death Penalty” Chinese Sociology and Anthropology (2009)

Blog 14: Inca Mummy Girl (Rewatch)

                I decided to watch the fourth episode of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Inca Mummy Girl” again.  I decided to choose this episode because the behavior of Empada.  I thought that her attitude was interesting because in her mind, she was just trying to live a normal life.  I don’t believe that she would have sucked the life out of anybody if she did not have to in order to survive.  I do not think that it was right for Empada to kill other people for her to survive, but I do understand why this would be a very difficult decision for her to make.  I believe that many people may make the same decision that Empada made in order to survive.

                Two scenes that I thought were very important during the show were when Empada was telling Buffy that she wanted to live a normal life, and when Empada was about to suck the life out of Willow and Xander stepped in and told her that she would have to suck the life out of him if she wanted to kill anybody. 

In the first scene I understood that Empada just wanted to live a normal problem free life.  Just like most people do.  Buffy also understood the pain that Empada was going through.  Although Empada did not know that Buffy lived an abnormal life, Buffy understood her ever word.

                The second scene where Empada had a choice to kill for her survival or to sacrifice her life in order to save the lives of many others posed a difficult question for Empada, and the viewer.  Since Empada was in love, was it wrong for her to want to survive and be happy with Xander? Personally I do not think her final decision to kill for her survival was the correct one, but I do understand her reasoning for choosing to survive.

Blog 13 Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Reptile Boy

I was really bored during today’s episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don’t know if I’m just getting used to the show, or if this particular episode just did not interest me.  This episode was different than the others.  It did not have as much action as the other ones did.  This episode was really only a little bit exciting during the last ten minutes.  I really didn’t care that much that Buffy was interested in some guy from a fraternity.  It was just completely irrelevant to the plot of the entire series.  Not my favorite episode, but still watchable.

                When Buffy got angry at Angel for not wanting to go on a date with her, it left me a little bit confused.  I believe that Angel knows best and he was just trying to protect Buffy from being hurt sometime in the future.  If anything, it was a very nice thing for Angel to turn down Buffy’s invitation to go get some coffee.  I understand that he did not want to lead her on because that could only lead to complications down the road.  Buffy may have felt like everything was going to work out, but in reality, they still can’t be together.  That would bother Buffy even more, and she could get upset with Angel for making it seem like they could be together.  At the same time, I understand how Buffy was a little bit upset with him for not going to get coffee with her because going out for coffee is really no big deal.  She also knows that he wants to, so why would he tease her, and not be able to sit down for a simple cup of coffee? Angel is definitely in the worst position out of the two in my opinion.  Buffy should give him some type of sympathy.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Inca Mummy Girl

I’m really not too sure how I feel about the “villain” in this episode. Was she really a villain, or was she just a normal human being trying to live a completely normal life?  She didn’t seem to act as any other villains act in the previous episodes.  And her drive to stay alive was extremely strong when she realized that she was in love with Xander.  This episode hit me a little different than all of the others.  There were a lot of parts that were very interesting.  I didn’t really understand everything till it neared the end.  At first I thought that Empada was evil after she sucked the life out of the original foreign exchange student, then her behavior persuaded me that she was legit.  Near the end when she said that she would suck the life out of Xander, I was left confused.  She enjoyed living so much, and at first she wanted to live just for Xander.  I understand that taking the lives of others so she could live wasn’t right, but I could kind of see where she was coming from.  She had a legitimate motivation to stay alive, but she had to make a sacrifice.  Buffy could relate to Empada because Buffy cannot live a normal life either.  I liked the fact that Xander found a legit girl that cared about him also.  I did feel kind of bad for Willow though, but near the end I wanted her to meet the guy who played guitar in the band.  Maybe she would have liked him, and everyone would have been happy.  Maybe, I don’t know.  All in all, it was a good episode. I look forward to watching the next one.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: School Hard

                Today’s episode was pretty good, with a horrible ending.  I was a bit confused throughout the episode because certain things were not explained fully to the audience.  I believe that later on in the series many things will be explained.  Spike’s girlfriend or wife seemed a bit strange, even for a vampire.  It seems as if she has a power of her own.  When she said that she could not see the slayer because it was too dark, I did not know entirely what she meant by that.  She also seemed like she wanted her dead right away, hinting that Buffy could become a serious threat to them in the future.  I think that Spikes initial plan was to become the leader of the vampires, which is what he ended up doing.  I’m not sure exactly where he came from though and I was confused about his relationship with Angel.  I am very interested to find out if Buffy’s mother will ever figure out that her daughter is a slayer and that she kills vampires all of the time.  Although I knew that Angel was just acting when he took Xander and acted like he was going to kill him, it made me think if he possibly was lying the entire series and his goal really is to kill Buffy.  I really do doubt that this is the case though.  I think that the next series that I will watch will be the Angel series so that I can get both sides of the story.  I hated the way this episode ended.  Spike could have easily killed Buffy’s mother.  It made me wonder if he had a past encounter with Buffy’s mom and she had something to do with slaying vampires herself.  That would be interesting if that were the case.  I am looking forward to watching the next episode. The second season is pretty good so far.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Some Assembly Required

                Just like yesterday, Hulu did not have the entire season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I was forced to watch season two.  I was still lost a certain parts throughout the show, but it wasn’t really a big deal.  It was good to see that Buffy wasn’t a huge jerk like she was in the last episode.  I still don’t know what her deal is with Angel, but it seemed like they made up at the end of the show.  Like I said before, I like how the show doesn’t just focus on vampires.  It tends to stray away from vampires and come up with as many bizarre happenings that it possibly can.  It interests me that the writer can think of all of these different types of weird cases for the T.V show.  It seemed like Cordillia was a lot nicer in this episode than in the others.  She was still ditsy, and full of herself, but she was a lot more polite to the crew.  If anything, Xander was a lot nastier to her than she was to him.  At the end of the show it was odd that she actually went up to Xander to thank him for his heroic behavior, and it was even more odd when Xander cut her off to say that he was in the middle of a conversation and if she would mind not rudely interrupting.  The zombie was extremely psychotic in this episode.  I thought it was weird that he was obsessed with having a mate.  It was sad that he was lonely, but he should have just gone out and tried to be accepted by others before he decided to kill a girl for her head. That to me was insanity. All in all, it was a good episode.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: When She Was Bad

                For some reason Hulu got rid of all of the Buffy Vampire Slayer’s season one episodes.  I’m not sure why I was not able to view episode one, but I was forced to watch season two episode one “When She Was Bad”.  From the beginning of the episode, I missed a ton during episode one. Apparently Buffy was killed by the librarian.  She must have killed the Vampire master, who I thought was already dead.  There was a lack of vampires which aloud Buffy to go on vacation with her father.  Angel turned out to be a vampire, which I called from the beginning, and Buffy and he fell in love.  I was completely lost.

                In the beginning of the episode, it looked as if Xander was going to kiss the geeky girl.  I really wanted them to kiss, but a vampire came out of nowhere, as well as Buffy to kill the vampire.  She got a lot stronger and I found out that she trains with the librarian.  Buffy was being a jerk the entire episode.  I’m not too sure what made her act like this, but it was really pissing her best friends off.  Her behavior was horrible towards Angel.  I couldn’t believe that she used Xander to get back at him.  I was upset that she almost let her friends die by being extremely cocky and saying that she could handle killing the vampires on her own.  I thought it was still a good episode because it kept me on edge the entire time.  The ending was happy as usual, so I’m still excited to see more episodes. I will have to watch season one still so that I can get caught up on what’s going on