Valentine's Day

So, Valentine's Day is coming up of Thursday.

I hope everyone has plans! I, for one, have a date with a certain carton of ice cream.


What does Valentine's Day actually mean? It would seem as though it is a day where one must do something with their significant other: Go out for dinner, buy flowers, cards, or candy, or engage in other "extra-curricular" activities ;). If you know what I mean. I mean sports. It also allows a day for guys to cornily ask out girls.

I like Valentine's Day because the day after Valentine's Day is known to me as "Cheap Candy Day." I mean you walk into Walgreen's with a few bucks in your pocket and walk out with enough sugar to do something requiring a lot of sugar. I also like Valentine's Day because it is fun to buy your teacher a Singing Valentine from the quiet kid in class. Not that I would ever do that.

The one thing I don't like about Valentine's Day is that it basically forces something to happen in a relationship. It is expected that something will happen - and if something doesn't happen it is seen as crazy!!!! If you want to go to dinner to show your love, just go to dinner. If you want to give someone flowers, just give them flowers. If you do it out-of-the-blue, not on Valentine's Day, you will be seen as spontaneous and romantic. If you do it on Valentine's Day it will seem trite and expected. I mean, I would rather receive flowers randomly than on Valentine's Day.

I've never dated anyone though so I don't really know what I am saying. Oh well.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

A Clockwork Orange

I read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. It was an amazing read. I grew attached to Alex, the protagonist, as the story progressed; I was extremely attached at the end of the book even though it was  just about 200 pages long.

The first thing that struck me about this book was the "nadsat," a type of slang spoken by the Humble Narrator and the youth of the book. The first chapter was hard to get through, but as the book progressed I learned the slang and it made the book a lot more fun. I think the slang served three purposes. The first, and most superficial, purpose was just to make the book more fun to read. Learning new words is fun, at least to smart, awesome people. The second purpose is to immerse the reader in the dystopian world of the book. If it were written in normal English then it would have been harder to believe it were a dystopia. The slang makes it as if the Humble Narrator was regaling us with this story. The third purpose was hard to catch, but it really is effective. When Alex is unconditioned and is "ultra-violent" he speaks in the slang. When he gets conditioned by the government he changes to a "proper" way of speaking. Then when the conditioning is reversed he reverts back to the slang. Atta boy, Alex.

I would have to say the next thing that struck me was the ultra-violence. Alex and his gang are teens and they are beating people up on the street, raping people, and Alex killed a woman. In the beginning of the story the balance of power leans towards the gangs; they rape, steal, and assault while the police do not do much. At the end of the story Alex mentions how the ultra-violence has gone down and suggests the possible reason of the police getting a lot more violent. This lends to the government being the cause of the dystopia in this story. Either the government doesn't do its job and the ultra-violence is perpetrated by the gangs or the gangs die down and the government commits the violence. Burgess here might be commenting that there is always going to be violence one way or another, it is like the Law of Conservation of Violence. Burgess exaggerates the violence to make his commentary clearer.

The last thing that was important to me was Alex's prison time and his conditioning. In the prison pre-conditioning Alex is still violent - he and some cellmates kill a man, with Alex delivering the killing blow. It is obvious that Alex isn't changed at all. Then, when Alex is forcibly conditioned he becomes a polar opposite of his former self: sniveling at the feet of someone who is threatening him, and licking the feet of a good looking devotchka. What we see here are the opposite sides of a spectrum. When the person in jail has no government interaction or help they do not get better. But when they are completely forced into "getting help" they are no better than without the governments help. I think Burgess is saying that we shouldn't just toss prisoners in jail nor should we condition them too harshly. We need to find that sweet spot to make them a better person while still making sure that they know they did something wrong.


I really liked this book. I don't know if I should recommend the movie; I haven't scene it. That being said, I don't know if I should watch the movie. In Burgess' introduction he explains how he wrote the book with 21 chapters, and that the book makes sense if you read them all. It certainly made sense to me. Burgess goes on to explain that the first prints of his book did not have the 21st chapter - the publishing companies left it out. The movie was then made without the 21st chapter and Burgess explains that there is definitely a different feeling in the movie than from the full book. Oh well.

I would give this book a 10/10. Books are awesome.

Music!

Everyone loves music!

I like a lot of different types of music. I would have to say that hip-hop/rap is my favorite. Snoop has always been an inspiration to me along with Dr. Dre, Eminem, and all those fellas. I also like the Ying Yang Twins. Please don't judge me on that. 

I like the new stuff too! Some of the new songs have the deepest messages; "She has a big booty so I call her big booty." Now that is some deep shi- oh wait, stuff, because I can't swear on my blog. That's some deep stuff. 

I also like big band music. Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. are some of the artists I like. Big band is good music to listen to when you are eating dinner with the family; it is a great backgrounf to eating and conversation.

Christmas music is also great! It's just all warm and fuzzy and makes you feel good, except for Christmas Shoes. I never got that song. It's about a kid spending his last money to buy shoes for his mom to wear in her coffin so she looks pretty. Dude, your mom isn't going to know what you bury her in. Other than that Christmas music is amazing. Bing Crosby is the man.

I don't really get country music. I have made a graphical representation of all the country songs in the world. If anyone would care to explain country music to me that would be appreciated.

The Next Surgery

So today I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon.

Turns out it's AIDS.

Haha, no. Everything is going fine with the stoma and my recovery. I have also gained weight and the doctor is pleased with that. I need to gain more weight to be stronger for the second surgery.

Speaking of the second surgery, it is tentatively scheduled for Spring Break. While all you rich kids will be gallivanting around Mexico and the Bahamas I will be stuck in the hospital. The surgeon said the surgery will be anywhere from four to ten hours. The recovery time in the hospital is supposed to be a week.

In this surgery they will be creating a "j-pouch," which is basically a mini-colon. I will still have to poop in a bag though.

I guess an upside of this is that I will have some cool looking scars when this is all over.

Treatise On Gum

Right now I am chewing on some Big League Chew: Ground Ball Grape bubblegum.

There are four types of gum. Minty, fruity, Blandy-McBland, and other.

Minty is obviously mint flavors. We have peppermint, smooth mint, wintermint, spearmint, swordmint, etc. I think the mint type is great! It freshens your breath and helps that 2:30 feeling. I can chew the same piece of minty gum for the entire day and it gives my mouth something to do.The only downside to minty gum is when you drink water with minty gum it feels as if someone stabbed your mouth with an icicle. Personally I recommend Extra brand.

Fruity is composed of fruit flavors. Grape, apple, watermelon, etc. Fruity gum is alright in my opinion. I find that it generally loses its flavor more quickly than minty gum, and who wants gum that's lost its flavor? It also doesn't make your breath smell that much better. However, fruity gum tends to form better bubbles than minty gum. I recommend Big League Chew for your fruity gum needs.

Blandy-McBland is just a boring type. Bubblegum and Juicy Fruit belong here. Bubblegum is just a sweet flavor with no real notes to it; it leaves the palate yearning for something sorely lacking. Juicy Fruit is also like that. It is both "minty" and "fruity", but it doesn't focus on either so it seems like a lame attempt. I recommend not chewing this gum.

Other is an interesting category. The Extra gum "dessert flavors" fall into this category.

      "But Ben!" you might say, "All these flavors are fundamentally fruity!"
      "Hush, hush," I whisper, stroking your cheek. "It's alright. Everything is going to be fine."

Yes, the dessert flavors are fruity, but they are so much more than that. Take the "Apple Pie" dessert flavor.You bite into it, masticating its rubbery goodness. The apple flavor hits you first. It's not just apple, though; you notice that there are undertones of cooked spice in the apple. Next is the crispy crust of the pie. It is baked to perfection, perfectly dancing around your tongue with the apple flavor. I recommend the Extra Dessert series for the "other" category.


I really like gum.

On Candy

Right now I am eating Smarties. They are pretty bland but I take what I can get. 

I would have to say, out of the two types of candy, my favorite is chocolate. The other is obviously the fruity type. On one hand, Skittles and Spree and Starburst are great but I get tired of those after a little bit, and they aren't that filling. On the other hand I have different fingers. 

But actually, on the other hand, chocolate is so much more complex than the fruity types. You can add nuts, pretzels, caramel, nougat, and pretty much any food to chocolate. In fact, my favorite candy, Take Five, is composed of chocolate, pretzels, caramel, peanuts, and peanut butter. Get it? There are FIVE components and it is called Take FIVE. 

Hierarchy of Candy:

1. Snickers, Kit Kat, Skittles, Starburst, Take Five, These Mofos

2. M&Ms, Smarties, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, Milky Way, Three Musketeers

3. Lollipops

If you like Tootsie Rolls you need to evaluate what's going on in your life.

Today's Shenanigans

Today I did make-up work.

I wrote a letter to an unfriendly audience for AP Lang. If anyone wants to read it for fun or to give me a critique, or both, just send me a message. You can use facebook, texting, pidgeon, smoke signal, whatever.

I also started reading, and got through a lot of, Clockwork Orange. I have to read it for my English elective, Dystopian Literature. It's a good book but is slightly disturbing. Like seeing a creepy clown get hit by a car. It's nice to look at, and you understand why it is a good thing, but overall it still disturbs you.

For breakfast I had a bowl of cereal. For lunch I had pork roast and carrots. For dinner I had Pizza Bites. I should probably eat something more!



There were some good football games today. Go team!