Back From the Dead for a Life Song Playlist

Ok, you caught me. I haven't blogged for over 3 months because I've just been busy. So here's an update. I've been working a whole lot at Cheeburger, going to school, and playing golf. I've been playing golf for my High School team, but that doesn't seem to be going well being that I shot in the high 40's the last two matchs (thats for 9 holes) so I dont think there are too many days left of my season. I'm going to Penn State next year. Yes, my coin flip resulted in a Nittany Lion and not a Scarlet Knight.

April was a fun month. I made the college decision and went on a cruise over spring break with my friends. We went to some pretty awesome places, I'll post some pictures in my next blog whenever that is. Gambling didn't go too well on the cruise. The dealers must've been cheating or something. Fuck Black Jack. A couple of days ago I went to a Bruce Springsteen Concert which was amazing. I encourage everyone to attend a concert before he stops touring. And don't say you don't know his music because I know all of you enjoy a few songs of his.

Anyway, I had to do a project for English Class about my life playlist. Songs about my life that have meaning. So here it is. If you don't know any of the songs, I recomend you sample them on itunes.

My Life Playlist

Track Number	Song Title	Artist
1	I’ll Believe In Anything	Wolf Parade
2	Rebuild	Switchfoot/Relient K
3	All These Things That I Have Done	The Killers
4	Revolution	The Beatles
5	Free Fallin’	Tom Petty
6	Love Will Come Through	Travis
7	Pride	U2
8	Streets of Philadelphia	Bruce Springsteen

Reasoning

Song #1: As I mentioned before, this song represents chaos and life. I am this song. It always gets me in a good mood and allows me to step back and look at life from a different perspective.

Song #2: Pretty self explanatory. The song is about rebuilding, and whenever I am in need of help of words of encouragement I turn on this song. It brings me up and I start thinking in terms of starting over.

Song #3: Tells my life story, as the lyrics go “All These Things That I Have Done”. I heard this song for my first time in Germany, and every time it comes on my IPOD I think about the awesome time I had when I was there. Mostly a remembering song for me.

Song 4: The Beatles are, and will always be the best band ever. Revolution is a song about changing the way that we live, and I am all for change when something isn’t right. I stand alongside their fight for anti-war, anti-violence, and world peace.

Song 5: This song is awesome. Another song that I listen to in order to get into a good mood. The song reminds me that life’s short, and we should all be living life without any restraints. It’s a pretty catchy tune also.

Song 6: This song is about love. The song gives hope that love will come through for everyone. Sort of a romantic and deep song.

Song 7: U2 changed the world with this song, and it has also changed my life. This is another song about love and world peace, two very important things people should be focusing on.

Song 8: “The Boss” rocked out to this song when I saw him in concert and I had to add it to my life play list. The melody tells the story of struggle and remorse, but gives hope as it concludes. One of the best songs ever made.

Thats all folks.

I'd like to know what your life playlist would be. Leave a comment with some songs and why you picked them.

Jspizzle

You Found Me

Hiya,

I'm finding it hard to keep up this blog. I don't have too many things going on right now, but I keep forgetting to write. Today I remembered.

It's almost February, which marks more than the midway point of the school year. Like I said a million times before, graduation is bittersweet. I'm quite excited to be going off to college, where I'll be free and explore the world outside of manalapan on my own, but at the same time I'm gonna miss the everyday activities that go on at high school.

Today I woke up at 6 45 which sucked. Yeah, waking up early I will not be missing when I get to college. I picked up my driving partner Eric, and we were on our way to school. This week was all midterms. Midterms mean one thing to me: cheating. Cheating in High School is like Michael Phelps and swimming. They both go together so naturally its insane. In Manalapan High, the number of kids that cheat is very high and the number of teachers that care is very low. Half of the teachers are completely oblivious to the fact that half the class is cheating on the midterm, and the other half of the teachers don't even care. Its very funny actually. Once the first day of testing is completed, answers are being sent around like the stomach virus. And if your unlucky and have your hardest test on the first day, someone is bound to steal the test and pay off the smart kids to take the test. The whole midterms and finals system is whacked out, but I will miss it when I get to college and there's essay exams which throws cheating out of the question.

I received my first acceptance letter this week. That was really exciting, because now I no longer have to worry and I can sit back and relax for the rest of senior year. Penn State University Park.

Last weekend me and the guys headed up to Vermont for skiing. We resided at one of my good friend from camp's house and enjoyed some awesome skiing. I'm not that much of a skier, as this weekend was only my second time ever, but I know enough to have fun going down the mountain. For some reason my confidence was high and I went fast this year. One event stands out from the weekend.

Imagine a huge mountain covered with snow. (for those of you who never skied before)Going up the mountain, the trees are cleared and there are many ski lifts going up. On the particular mountain we were on, the farther left you went the easier the slopes were. Simply put, we were all the way left at the easiest slope. So me and me other two friends are waiting on the ski lift line. In front of us are three skiers: one is an instructor, around my age, and the other two are these small kids getting lessons. They both had to have been around 5 years old and were bundled up tight with ski gear. The instructor turned around to us and asked if one of us would go with the little guy because the lift holds two people and he was going with the other kid. One of my friends responds "alright, sure I'll take him." The instructor says "make sure you go with him".

So they move up on line and are ready to go. Well at least my friend was ready. There both standing there, waiting for the lift to come (it comes up from behind and your supposed to sit down). The lift comes and my friend hops up and sits down. Completely unaware what the hell is going on, the 5 year old kid gets plowed down and falls face first in the snow with his ski's sticking up. It was hilarious. My friend completely forgot to help the poor kid into the seat so the kid gets run over by the ski lift. The lift operator finally shuts the lift off and the instructor runs over to help. Mind you, me and my other friend are standing on line right behind him and we're just laughing our heads off. It was so funny. And of course, my friend held on tight to the little guy the whole way up after that.

Movie/Music update- I've been listening to a lot of music by the bealtes lately. The phase is wearing off though. I'm still addicted to the new snow patrol cd. Also The Fray is coming out with a new CD soon, their hit song You Found Me is just amazing. Bruce Springsteen came out with another album, featuring songs from the movie "The Wrestler".

I saw Slumdog Millionaire. I highly recommend it. The film itself is spectacular for it's scenic shots of India and the script and plot are very entertaining. Another great movie that I rediscovered is October Sky. I had seen it many years ago, and forgot how good it really is. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

I'm hoping to find out who is reading this. Leave a comment with your name. I'd appreciate it.

Do not dwell in the past.

Josh

Senior year and a job

It's December of my senior year already and so far school is going by extremely fast. It's bittersweet because I want it to end but I actually enjoy going to school and seeing everybody. I also like being on a schedule, but I have a good feeling when high school is over I will live better being off a schedule. Anyways, I was just thinking about senior year and how things have changed since freshman year. Unlike the rest of MHS seniors, I for some reason still have this motivation to do well in school. Yeah I know grades don't count and colleges don't look at them and all that bullshit, but I have a feeling if I slack off now, chances are I'll slack off in my freshman year of college. So if I can keep up this motivation and not develop bad habits like sleeping in class and just not doing any work, I'll continue to do well in college. We'll see what happens.

If you don't like to listen to music or watch movies, chances are I won't like you that much. But thats not to say we can't be friends. Many of my good friends aren't that thrilled with seeing a movie or listening to music, but it seems its easier to become friends when they like either of the two. I saw a kick-ass movie today. It was called "Almost Famous", and was about this kid who writes and follows a band around. The soundtrack alone is insane but if you have a chance to see it definitely take it.

Three weeks have passed since I got a job at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Its pretty cool there, but starting out is rough. Right now I only have training in Bar/To go, which is at the bar station right when you walk in. Tables order shakes and I make them at the bar. Also at the bar I handle take out orders. I picked up on how things run pretty quickly, but the work can be a lot sometimes. When it gets busy its rushing around in a small space trying to make a crazy shake, like a peanut butter oreo strawberry m&m shake. People are crazy. And then there are times when there are hardly any customers, which sucks because there's nothing to do.

It's really hard to get shifts to work. Right now I'm not on the daily schedule which sucks because I want to work. Hopefully I'll be put on soon. Cheeburger uses a program called Schedulefly. Basically all the shifts are posted online. People drop shifts and we receive a text which tells us we can pick it up. Its annoying because you have those people who sit at a computer, waiting for a shift, so you really have to be fast.

Thats about it. Lately I haven't been busy, just trying to pass the time by.

Snow Patrol recently released a new album. Its real good so if your looking for something good to listen to, check it out.

Later.

Josh

I'm finally back. I sorta forgot about this blog, and there was a couple of times where i would start writing and then say to myself, "whats the point, nobody is going to read this anyway". Not this time though.

So here's and update of my life since my last blog. Wow, its been nearly 8 months.

April- April 6th is my birthday. This year I turned 17, which meant getting my license which was pretty sweet. I drive a used Hyundai Sante Fe, (paid for by me and my relatives) and I remember the first week I was just driving to random places across Manalapan, just because I could. Gas from April-October sucked since I paid around $3.50/gallon, but now in November its under $2. Driving has been fun, its made my life a whole lot easier and less reliant on my parents.

May, June- Nothing too much about these months. End of the school year bullshit, days are getting hotter and I just wanna get the hell out of school.

July, August- Camps finally here. I work at Frogbridge Day Camp. This summer was filled with a bunch of fun times. We all could drive so we hung out with middle camp people a lot. My group this year was pretty good, just a few kids that were annoying but overall I liked my kids. Actually I kinda miss them. My weekend job and Frogbridge on the catering team was pretty lucrative and I'm working my way up.

At the end of August I took a 2 week trip to Germany. I had a great time there and its changed my life. I can't wait to go back. I'll try and blog about it when I have some time, since I have a lot to say.

September, October- Senior year at Manalapan High School starts. My classes are all for the most part easy, except for english. I start again my tutoring for the SATS. I can honestly say that I worked my ass off studying for this test. And it paid off, I got what I wanted when I took them in October. Then I applied to some colleges; University of Maryland, Rutgers, and Penn State. We'll see what happens. I'm just glad its over. I'm so sick of talking about GPA and SAT scores and everything else that goes along with college stuff.

November- I joined the YMCA. Lets see how that goes. I'll admit I'm not the most committed person in the world. They got a pretty good facility there, a lot better than Elite. I applied for a job at Chee burger, because every other restaurant wont hire until 18 since they serve alcohol and I'm sure as hell not working at a retail store. Training is in 2 days so lets see what happens.

Otherwise, life is good. Lately me and my friends have been playing soccer at the rec. Thats a lot of fun. I watched so many good movies since my last post it would be crazy to mention all of them. Music also.

For the past month the band "Explosions in the Sky" has kept me alive. Download their songs, I still can't get over how good they are.

So I'm not really sure who is reading this, so I'm going to ask if you would leave me a comment letting me know you read it. Its encouraging to know that someone is reading my work rather than me just writing for the sake of writing.

Thats all I have in me for now. Catch ya later.

Josh

I don't wanna grow up

It is starting to seem that as I grow older, the more and more I wish I was still at a younger age. Therefore sometimes I feel like I don't want to ever grow up, which leads me thinking about life when I was younger and how much I'd appreciate more to not do adult things. If I had a choice to either stay a child my whole life or grow up and be an adult, I think right now I would chose to grow up.
Looking back to when I was a kid, not 11 or 12 but prior to that, say 4 or 5, life was pretty swell. There was nothing too stressful to worry about, just things like what color popsicle to go after and who to say my best friend is. It was rather nice not having all the responsibilities that life hands down to you as you get older, and the simple activities were enough to keep me busy and happy. With that said, after growing older and finding a more complex life to live, it is worth having all these good and bad things that come with it. Think of this analogy if you are confused: (I was inspired after eating an apple today) Person A has an apple. Person B has an identical apple as person A. So time goes by, and person A decides not to bite into the apple. Person A does not know what will happen if they do, so they play it safe and do not take the chance. On the other hand, person B bites into the apple. Two things happen. First off, person B bites too hard into the apple and ends up enduring the pain of losing a tooth. After the pain is gone, person B takes another bite and enjoys the delicious taste of the apple. Understand? Person A is that child that never grows up, staying a child for their whole life and enduring neither the good nor bad life has in store for us. Person A is that guy that grows up, fighting the hardships in life and enjoying the pleasures.
If I had the choice to stay a child my whole life, I'd chose not to take it. I'd take the risk of growing up 100 out of 100 opportunities. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to grow up. Who does? It sucks being an adult and dealing with what adults deal with. But at the same time, I need to grow up. It is inevitable. I'd rather suffer all evil that comes with growing up in order to experience all of the good stuff, such as driving, traveling, starting a family, etc. then not have either of the two at all.

I know if from an outside perspective, this might indeed sound crazy, but if you are willing to have the patience needed to furthermore think about this subject I strongly suggest you read the novel, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. It somewhat parallels to what I am saying here, and maybe it will spark some thoughts as it did when I read it.

Whats going on in my life, you may ask?

I got a car over the weekend. Its pretty sick and I can't wait to drive it alone when I get my license in three weeks. It is a used silver Hyundai Sante Fe, a very fine car for a new driver if I might add.

I haven't been really watching too many movies anymore. I did see some though, because I am an addict and cannot go a weekend without watching at least one. I saw Police Academy, Glory Road, and Enemy of State, all of which I suggest you see.

My new music consists of songs made by Sigur Ros. They are rather motivational. Although they do not contain that many words, the use of instruments and sound devices is phenomenal.


Quote of the day: "What you do with your time helps to define you, so be sure you're making the most of it."


Let there be no wasted time in our lives. No regrets, just lessons learned.

'Till I write again.

Josh

Stupid people doing stupid things

I don't like stupid people. I also don't like going to bed and waking up early in the morning for school. Maybe I'm not a person who likes to be organized and on a schedule, or maybe I just like to do what I want and that does not include a schedule. Now back to stupid people. Its not that they are necessarily stupid its just that they don't spend enough time thinking about what they do before they actually do it. For example, today was a pretty important day for try-outs on the high school golf team. So we went to Hole in One and did our thing on the mini-par 3 course. There was this kid there, had to have been a freshman or a sophmore, that was pretty damn awful. You could really tell he's never played golf before when he banks a shot into the water on a hole about 3 or 4 times before finally giving up. But I have nothing wrong with that, because at one point in time I was that freshman loser that couldn't hit a golf ball for his life. Things are different now though I've been taught how to play golf well but theres always room for improvement. Alright we're now on like the 6th hole, which has a pretty big lake guarding the green. So the kid keeps shanking it left into the water, but he somehow gets it onto the green safely after basically his 8th stroke. Anyway, the point of the story is the kid lies about his score when asked by one of the varsity guys from last season. He looks at him with a sorta confused look. Then he turns to me and I give him this "don't believe that shit" face and shake my head. There is one thing I can't stand and that is being lied to. He's stupid enough to think that we are oblivious to the world and can not score correctly. And in doing so with two kids who have been on the team for years is just even more foolish.

I gotta admit sometimes I'm just as bad as that kid. I cheat sorta often in school on tests and shit. Teachers should be able to catch us more often but they're only there for a pay check, so I'll take as much as they will give us. Its pretty funny how many kids cheat and get away with it. Gotta be at least 3/4 of our school. I know it won't be put up with in the real world, but I'm way too lazy to change my ways right now.

I'm too tired to be blogging for the moment, I had to do some last minute stuff for school like usual. I'm an extreme procrastinator by the way. Until tomorrow, to be continued, c ya later peace out and good night.

jsiegz

"This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo"-Eminem

While sitting at my kitchen table this morning, taking an SAT practice test for my tutor, a thought came into my mind. 20 years from now, is all this going to matter? Is it going to really going to make a difference if i have a B+ GPA as opposed to an A- GPA? Or can that kid who gets a B- GPA be more successful than those students who got an A GPA. And what about the SAT scores. Will it matter if i get a 1100 instead of close to a 1300? Does my SAT scores really matter to whether or not I can be successful and happy in life? Does any of all this high school pressurized competition B.S. matter in the real world?

I've heard from some people it does, and from others it doesn't. 20 years from now, where ever I am, i will be sure to come back to this blog, if the Internet (or world) hasn't blown up by then, and answer the questions I am currently asking myself (as a junior in high school) for all you readers out there.

The basis of the creation and thought-process that went into starting this topic actually came from yesterday. After a morning spent exercising and playing basketball at the local gym, my family and I took a trip to New York. I usually spend the car rides listening to my Ipod. So we went to this big-time Italian owned car dealership and I bought my first car. I'm bringing it home next Saturday and am pretty excited. All will be well when I actually get my license in April. Anyway, all of the car ride home I was thinking about all this good stuff. Life, college, jobs, death, the usual. I feel like getting a car is a new beginning. I will have the chance to live a different life, based more on what I want and less according to what my parents and other people would like. Simply put I'll have more control.

Getting my first car is only one chapter of my life. It is only one start-over. It is only one chance to do things differently. I find that there are many times where I want things to be different. I want to be a different person, live a different life, and do different things. I constantly think about that, and although the past 16 years of my life have been greatly shaped from my parents and environment I am slowly but surely pulling off the layers of influence I have received and developing my own way to live.

Alright, I have finished with that thought for now and will come back at another time. I haven't been watching that many movies recently, probably I have seen a couple of bad ones and got turned off.

I have seen a few good ones, such as Instinct, Ratatouille, and Man of Honor. All of which I highly recommend you go out and see.

Music. Although I have only explored the band Travis a little bit, they are very talented and consist of what I consider good music. My Switchfoot addiction has indeed worn off, even though I sometimes find myself humming their songs. I know a big bulk of their albums. The rest of what I have been listening to is made up of a few single artists with only a few songs out. But besides that I've concentrated a lot of my music towards Bob Marley. Its hard to really appreciate his music without living in the time period from which it comes from, but I think I am coming fairly close. He's one of the best artists ever. I also like Wyclef Jean. He's had a few hit songs but looking further into his music I've found some pretty cool stuff he's made.

Well that's about it for now, I have a tough 2 week stretch of school coming up and then its off to Puerto Rico during Spring Break.

Lata Gata

Josh