Stand Up.

This is the time.  

This is when everyone either pushes through and becomes a champion or when they curl up and hope they survive to the end of the fight. Which will you be? a dying soldier who made a fatal slip and gave up? Or the one who slipped, but then got up and kept fighting?

  'Cause that's the difference.  Picking yourself up.  If you can't get up and keep going then you will lose. Simple as that.  Heck, you might still lose! But, going with the soldier analogy: 

Dying in a blaze of glory, fighting your hardest, breaking a way for the rest of the army to get though... That's not a loss. That's a win. That's something that will be told of for thousands of years, written of in epics and used as inspiration for struggling men everywhere. 

So which will you be?  A statistic? Just one of the 7000 wounded?

 Or will you be the Hero? The one who lead the charge and helped win the fight? 

As for me, I don't know if I 'll "live" per say, but dang it, I'm going to go down fighting. 

From here: http://sebadorn.deviantart.com/art/Kneeling-Knight-Colored-141746435
found it on a Google image search...  (The guy is super talented. :D )

A Life of Performance.

Two weeks ago I finished a run of a play, Much Ado About Nothing.  It was amazing and fantastic and I enjoyed myself a lot!

Acting is what I love to do, it's part of me and I've done it since before I can remember. This year is my last year in high school, after this I will move on, go to college, go on a proselyting mission for my church, and whatnot. 

Anyhow, this will be my last year to be in a play for at least three years.  This year there is a large musical being put on and I was DYING to try out. The problem was that I had just been in a play (Much ado) and had been in one last semester and I was (And still am) very very behind in school..

  So I had to make a decision, I had to give up something so that I could catch up in school. So rather than give up acting, which I loved, I decided that I would have to give up the funness of the internet.  So as of right now I have decided a few things: I'm only aloud to use YouTube during classes or via class Modules, I'm not aloud on Facebook except for on Sundays. I can't listen to podcasts on my computer (Though, If I'm exercising and it;s on a mp3 player it's fine) and I can't play any games on my computer.  All of these are in hopes that I'd be able to catch up WHILE being in a play. 

It was interesting because I had to actually go through and decide, what is most important to me. I had to look at what my dream in life is. As Dallin Ward said over in the Williamsburg community,          

"Everyone needs a dream. That is how all great things have been done." (If you have time go read his entire thing, it's good, and then go to Wesleigh Smith's post and read all of those responses, they're beautiful. )  So I looked at my life and decided where I wanted to go.  I found that that path didn't involve wasting days on end on the internet, however fun that may seem to me at the time. MY path to awesome involved me being committed to getting work done and to being free of the distracting influence of the internet. 

This is now the second week I've been doing this and it's fantastic how much has changed.  I've been able to focus on school work and I have started to catch up, it's been great. 

It hasn't been easy.  For instance, there are some days when I don't get very much done because I am simply spending the time fighting the part of me that wants to just quit and go to YouTube and waste away the afternoon. I'm used to being able to just distract myself and I'm used to just having fun.  I believe that the carefree, "Do nothing" mindset is just as much of an addiction as anything else is, and I obviously must have got myself hooked to it. It's just weird, some days I will literally have to argue part of myself that wants to go play, I have to literally convince it that what I'm working on is more important. It's basically my Red/Yellow personality if you're at all familiar with the color code.  I used to be really red, I was focused and I was very leadership oriented and stuff, but then over the years on the internet my yellow personality has taken over and I'm can be very uncommitted and lazy and just like having fun. So basically I'm trying to exercise that redness that I know I have. I'm trying to get back the determination and drive that I used to have.  It's crazy, but it's awesome that I am finally able to sit down and work and get things done. 

So, look at your priorities see what you WANT and then organize you time well.  You will never have more time than you have now, something will always be taking up your time, whether it be school work, other school, children, you will never have more time, you will just have to prioritize. 

So find that path and follow it to the end. The path is straight and narrow, the path is hard and filled with brambles, but in the end, it will be worth it. 

Determination

This summer I'm doing a chemistry class.  It's actually really pretty fun, but it takes me a long time to get through.  So, today I'm going to make my self do it.
I'm kind of odd; I can force myself to do things, but ONLY if I give myself STRICT guidelines, and an endpoint. So, my guidelines are, do set amount of chemistry (already decided) BEFORE getting on any social media. and if I make myself do that, it should work, since for some reason it does...

Now if I said, "do Chemistry for an hour" that wouldn't work since I would just get on Facebook or G+ and tell myself, "I'll work extra hard later in the hour"

So be determined and set exact goals, at least that's what I have to do for myself.

"A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop." Robert Hughes

And another good quote that also ties into what I said yesterday:
"A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough."
John Christian Bovee  

New Goal

Okay, I don't think that anyone actually reads this... but perhaps sometime people might start to do so... So I'm going to start posting something EVERY DAY. Yep. I'll do this for as long as I can, and it shall be awesomeness.

Of course this means that if the night comes and I haven't posted anything or if I can't think of anything I shall probably be posting pretty random stuff. 
BUT yeah, there will be stuff on here every day.
So for today, all I'm going to post is a really good quote I saw, at least it's an interesting quote. :D

Grand Strategy

Before you read this you have to know a definition, this definition is Grand Strategy.  it basically means the strategy that people have about the direction for the country globally. 
There are four main ones in use in America now.
Primacy, Cooperative security, selective engagement, and Neo Isolationism.
Primacy is the idea That America should be the super power it is today, but that it should go further and whenever anyone needs help we should help them.  This Ideal supports treaties and alliances like NATO (which requires us to help the member countries if they are attacked).  The main believers in this are die hard republicans and others like such.  So this takes to heart the idea of spreading democracy to the world.
Cooperative security is the next level "down" this group wishes to have alliances with all nations and be in a lot of places, but not be EVERYWHERE protecting everyone, many more people believe in this strategy than primacy.  In this we would protect people if we like them or have interests there.
Selective engagement is basically when we only go into a country with military if we have people there, (or other things like businesses or other interests) 
Neo Isolationism is the easiest to understand: Isolation. Stay in America, don't go anywhere, focus on US.
So with that short, badly worded summary, here's the essay. :D

Here is my grand strategy.  If you disagree (which I'm sure that in someway you will)  You should say so in the comments, since that would be cool!

What grand strategy do I believe in?  Well, this is complicated, I believe somewhat in Neo-Isolationism, but I don’t want to completely cut ourselves off from the world.  So maybe selective engagement?  Yes I do believe that we should have contact with other countries, but I don’t like alliances like NATO that hold us down.  Yet sometimes I believe that we have to go in and help someone, like a primacist. In a class we had we talked about this, and rather than me just saying, "Yeah, sounds good"  and going along with this ideal because it's easy to say that you agree with everything  I actually have thought this ever since we learned about grand strategy, and especially in the last month or two I’ve thought about it.  So something’s I believe are:  (this last part was in here because in the original essay it was to one person and I wanted them to know that I hadn't just taken this idea and written about it because I knew they believed it. )

I believe that we SHOULD try to make better relations with China since we’re kind of at a bad area with them and they don’t really like us at the moment.

  I think that we should also try to talk to North Korea to see if we can see why they are so aggressive towards us and see if we can turn down that flame before it burns us.

I also think that we should pull back many of our troops and perhaps cut down on the expense of having military abroad, but still have and train military at home, since we don’t want to be weak and disarmed.

We should focus a LOT on our debt and try our best to figure out a way, if not to lower, to at least halt the rise of our national debt.  We need to figure this out.  Some ways to do that are, like I said pull the military back home unless they’re in a position where leaving would prove more dangerous than staying, then we can leave them for now. Another idea would be to cut massive amounts of money off of welfare and Medicare and then run a campaign of advertising trying to get people to help the people who they know who are in need. Perhaps have the government set up a system in which people can donate to a fund which will help the people who need it.  And once we’ve done that we will be able to get rid of national government funded welfare.

Another thing I would do in the way of grand strategy is try to meet with rising nations to see what their goals are and while I wouldn’t give them an official alliance I would try to see if we could help them and vice versa.  With these and other changes I think that we could do pretty good in this increasingly global world. 

Welfare: the poison of America.

Well, I've been doing non-stop school for the past few months, But I finished!! :D
So I'll be able to post some things on here now. :D

(This is an essay I wrote for Extra credit in my world history class, I'll be posting a lot of similar things  for a while, also, in many of them I take a stand and defend it, even though I might not agree with it. for instance, I have two essays that are contradictory, since that was easy and fun to write.)

You read this title and you think one of two things, the first thing might be: “You heartless person!” And the other opposite will be: “YEAH! They didn’t earn it! We’re just enabling them!” Now, I’m obviously generalizing, and exaggerating, perhaps you understand the real problem, and solution.  And if so, I salute you, you already know what I’m going to talk about.  Here’s the thing.  Welfare IS a poison, but, many of these people still do need help!  We can’t just let them starve, jobless!  I have a solution, but first, let us look at an example

Let’s take Rome.  A strong empire indeed, but this is where most republicans get their data.  The roman government gave the people something called, “The dole” which was a daily ration, if they needed it.  So, what did this do to the people? they all stopped working! Free food!  so then the government had to pay them huge amounts to work, and then the government lost money.  but that’s not the point.  The point is that, the dole made them weak, it made them rely on the government! This is one of the big problems republicans have, they don’t want the entire population of America to become reliable on welfare. 

THIS is why it’s a poison! Because it’s true, welfare is a poison but it’s not the kind that immediately kills.  It’s like a drug, it gets you addicted, then, if you try to quit suddenly you get VERY sick and can die.  But we can’t just let them starve.  That would be stupid, heartless, and from a purely economic view, bad for business everywhere, to have a bunch of starving unemployed people wandering the streets.  So, what do we do?  

Well, there are a few things.  Firstly we must wean them off of it, exactly like an addictive drug.  But then we can’t just leave them there, like I said.  We as people must help them!  If there are real people helping them, people who they can see, and have to face then there won’t be those who cheat the system, but the people who actually do need it will get it.  This is the only way to do this, we must help each other to get better, it’s the only way.  IF we keep letting the government poison us then we cannot be free as an economy and grow.  We must help each other and be a better country.

New Years Resolutions

So, I realized what I just did. I just spent the last half an hour reading scriptures, Listening to music, and while doing that I was thinking about this semester. I think I'm ready, but from past experience, unless I write it down and have it exact goals. So I came up with some that I will follow. In other words, for the first time ever, I have made some new years resolutions that I am writing down and will follow without fail.

#1 Read scriptures at 7:30 for at least ten minutes. This is something that I CAN do I will never have classes that early, and I should almost never go anywhere during that time. The only thing I'd be cutting into would be my sleeping time.

#2 Check chickens right before doing scriptures, give them new water, check eggs, the like.

#3 Wear a white shirt and tie to every class and for much of the day while I'm doing school. I've heard and experienced that when you wear different things, it has different effects on you. A white shirt and tie will help me focus, I can take it off when I'm DONE with whatever assignments I need to do on the computer that day.

#4 Pray every morning and night. I have done Scriptures every day without fail for the last year, maybe longer. But I almost never say prayers at morning and night.

#5 Get every single World history assignment done before class. NEVER EVER EVER not do an assignment unless there is nothing I can do.

#6 Follow these things. I will look at them, and I will follow them, It WILL change me, it'll be a huge change. But I need this type of discipline in my life. I am WAY to undisciplined. My Yellow (carefree funloving) personality had recantly compleatly overrun my red (determined strong forceful) personality. But, if I give myself these types of goals, super specific, my super determined personality should take over, and I should soar. So no more of the super determined yet never-follows-through person. I will now, finally, stand and throw off the bonds of laziness.
I'll keep you posted.
~Nathan Owens

Time to start again.

I made it, I finished this semester with all A's and I had an awesome break.

And Now break is over. I had a three week break from school work. I've been lazy and such, didn't do much of ANYTHING. Now I have to get myself pumped to do school. 'Cause I am NOT feeling it right now. :P
I'm writing a short story, and I'm actually going to finish it, and I'm giving it a deadline. I am going to post it here Sunday before I go to bed, and it will be DONE. It may not be good, I don't know.... But it'll be done. So yeah, that will be cool. I'm going to be uber busy this semester, I'm taking 7 classes this semester. AND IT'LL BE AWESOMENESS. Okay, there, now I'm PUMPED.

~Nathan