Redemption

Earlier this week, our first discussion about our new novel Everything Matters! quickly deteriorated into a no-holds-barred blame fest. As Ms. Serensky pointed out, our class has a remarkable tendency to turn everything into a witch hunt. I know for certain that I am guilty of this, as I immediately jumped into the blame game, trying to determine who was the biggest failure as a parent, person, and role model. However, I realize this is a very unkind and not a very useful habit to cultivate. In hopes of redeeming myself, I have decided to find all the things I like about the characters and say nice things about them, instead of self-righteously tearing them down.

Debbie: She was a pretty good mother to Junior for a few years. Although I can't condone the beating she gave Rodney during Junior's seizure, I can say it stemmed from a strong protective instinct for her younger son.

John Sr: A man of few words, while he can come off as cold, his kids seems to know he feels "genuine affection" for them (83). His physical absence is due not to a lack of love for his family but from a desire to provide for them. Most importantly, John has integrity; he refuses to profit off his son's talent for baseball, even though he could use the money. On the subject of that sport, I admire that the untimely end to his own promising career has not turned him into a bitter person.

Uncle Rodney: I suppose he didn't know Rodney was stealing cocaine from him.

Rodney: One moment from Rodney's visit to Chicago really stood out to me, as his father slowly strangles Dallas Green, Rodney steps in and asks to meet Harry Caray. It snaps John out of his murderous rage and when he explains to Rodney that that just isn’t going to happen, Rodney replies" I know...I just wanted you to stop choking him...I don't want you to go to jail" (80). Rodney is unconcerned with punishing Green for his arrogance or venting his rage, he just cares about keeping his family safe, what's not to admire?

What A Lovely Shade of Green!

I'll Do the Title Later

Computers are a wonderful invention, and whenever I pull up billions of results with a few keystrokes and the click of a button on Google, I know I'm spoiled. But that wealth of information all at my fingertips is a double-edged sword. Sometimes I tell people I have Internet ADD, because I just become so hopelessly distracted whenever I open it up. After doing four SOAPSTones in a row over the past two weeks, I have realized how distracted I become whenever I sit down at the computer to work. If you can sense a list coming right about now, your intuition is dead on.

Things I do Instead of Working on the Computer

1.      Read my classmates’ blogs

2.      Read the comments to my classmates’ blogs

3.      Read my old blog entries

4.      Read my old comments

5.      Find polls to vote on (I definitely need to spend less time on blogger)

6.      Pace

7.      Go on Wikipedia Tangents (I know they’re just trying to be helpful by making every other word a link but the temptation is too great for a procrastination addict like myself)

8.      Keep a detailed log of the comments I make to other blogs (I actually did this last semester, I spent a great deal of time double-checking my records and making sure my handwriting was neat)

9.      Write things in my planner which I have already done, just to have the satisfaction of crossing them out (probably not the point of having a planner, I know)

10.  Create a mental to-do list; go over it several times as I pace around my room. As the hours tick by and I procrastinate, getting nothing done, I gradually eliminate items from the list until it is just the bare essentials.

11.  Research competitive rabbit jumping (one of my favorite Wikipedia Tangents, apparently its popular in Northern Europe)

12.  Pace

13.  Sit at the computer, open a word document, open up the internet, check blogger, then turn around in my seat and watch TV for the next half hour

Looking at this list, I realize I have a serious problem with procrastination, and I’m not sure how I get anything done. Maybe I should it make my goal for the rest of my senior year to be more industrious, or I could do it next year…

It's a real thing!