My Name is....Amir

Amir seeks to make up for beinga coward and not sticking by his friend. He wishes he would have treated him better. He was a poor friend.

In order to make up for it, which I am not sure he can do, would be to make Hassan royalty. Give him a lot of money, and then become his servant. He would have to serve faithfully and his child would have to serve faithfully Hassan's child.

I don't know if, even then, Hassan would truly forgive him.

On Atonement, "Atonement is making up for past sins. It is possible to atone for past sins and mistakes. The person must need to make it up to the person he or she wronged. They should fix the problem they caused or make life better for a person they wronged in some way.

In My Name Is Earl, Earl has a list of all the bad things he has ever done to people. He goes through this list one by one and makes up for what he did to people. I do think there is a limit to how much you can tone for. Some things are so bad that they cannot be made up for. Murder is one example of this. "

I Imediately Regret This Decision!

To quote the great Ron Burgundy after he jumped into the bear pit. "I immediately regret this decision."

A mistake I made once, and never again, was forgetting to include Anchorman on my top 5 list of favorite movies. Someone asked me for my top 5. I thought for a second and then spewed out the 5 movies that I considered great without really thinking about it.

I left Anchorman off that lest.

Later that day, I realized what atrocious crime I had committed and decided that it would be best to contact this person immediately and let them know my true feelings. It might have made them think that I have no sense of humor, that I hate Will Ferrell, that I speak without thinking. I did not wish for any of these things.

In order to make up for it I decided it would be best to recite the movie from heart. I reeled off every scene and included as much dialog as possible, including a full rendition of "Afternoon Delight".

This person forgave me and I told them I would never make this mistake again.

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

I have only read a few chapters so far, but it the story about a girl who solved everything in the universe only to die unexpectedly when the earth was destroyed.

The first chapter starts off with an unnamed man getting off a spaceship. The space ship takes off, but then the man yells and it comes back and throws a bag at him. I expect this man is Arthur Dent.

I expect that he will find this girl and help her in some way, though I do not know who she is.

I am looking forward to finding out more as I continue reading.

Give a bear...

Fishing. There's nothing like it. I was ready for a relaxing day up at the old creek. I invited my father but he was busy working. Work. Psh. I don't work. I do okay. I've got a private chef. Mom's the best cook. I've got a maid. Mom's the best cleaner. I've got a personal driver. Mom's the best driver. Who would have thought at the age of 37 one man could be so successful?

I put on my army camo that I wore for Halloween last year and I walked up to a creek a few hundred yards into the woods behind our house. I use to play here when I was little. I guess I still do. I found a nice rock to sit on. It was flat, wasn't wet, no noticeable amounts of dirt. I took my seat, dropped my rod an tackle box besides me. I cracked open a cool Mr. Pibb. I put that down besides me and opened up my tackle box. I found a sandwich inside with a note that says, "Good Luck! Mom." It was peanut butter and jelly, which I stopped liking in the 8th grade but haven't had the heart to tell her.

I took a piece of bread out, ripped off a small morsel, and attached it to my rusty old hook. I threw my line into the water. It's game time.

I sat, waited, and enjoyed nature for the next few hours. The fish were not biting today. I saw a few crayfish scurrying around, but I was going for bigger game: tuna.

Then, it happened. I felt a small tug on my line. I waited. It tugged. I waited. It tugged that magical third time. I yanked the line to rip the rusty hook through the smooth mouth of the unsuspecting fish. I could feel the line fill with tension. The reel became harder to turn. It was time. I pulled. He pulled. I yanked. He yanked. I pulled him in slowly. He swam away quickly. The battle was a stalemate for at least 10 minutes. I could tell this was a good fish.

Slowly over the next hour I reeled him in, inch by inch. I brought him to the surface of the water. The fish darted around, but resistance was futile. With one last yank i ripped the fish out of the water and threw him on land. What a beauty. 8 inches long. Golden Green scales. Slippery. He was still flopping around on the earth. I didn't want to watch him suffer. He was a heckuva solider. He didn't deserve to go this way. I looked around for a rock, grabbed a suitable one, and brought it down on the fishes head. He stopped flopping.

RAAAAAARGHHGHGHAAAARWAAWWWWW

I spin around. There is a black bear charging right at me. He is over 6 feet tall. His illustrious black fur glistening in the sunlight. He had been on a fishing trip too apparently. They say you should play dead when a bear comes at you. I'm a poor actor, and that seems ridiculous propaganda propagated by the bears.

I left my rod and tackle box, and with the fish still in hand, I ran. I ran faster than I ever have before. I was swift as a gazelle, jumping over fallen logs, ducking under hanging vines, leaping giant chasms in the earth. The bear could not keep up. He turned around after a minute or two. I finally reached the end of the woods and ran inside. I told my mom the story of me fishing, and the bear, and then my amazing run through the forest. She told me I have an overactive imagination.

Later that night, I went back to get my rod and tackle box. I went slowly and carefully, on the lookout for bears. I made it safely to the creek but then I saw something so strangely odd that I had to leave immediately. The bear was fishing using my rod and eating my mothers peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Give a bear a sandwich, feed him for a day, give a bear a fishing rod, feed him for life.

I Will Destroy Your Planet

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. Edmund Burke.

I think Mr. Burke is trying to say that if good people do nothing, the evil will always win because no one will stop it. I strongly disagree. Sometimes evil is just plain better. Star Wars. The Dark Side is much more powerful than the light side. They were triumphing all throughout the movie because they were simply better. They built the death star. They destroyed planets. They killed thousands. Even though the deathstar was destroyed in the end, and their emperor was killed, that does not mean they lost. They effectively ran the galaxy for a good period. They caused all sorts of mayhem. I am sure they were satisfied with the results.

Gandhi also won with non-action.

What to eat? What to eat?

The factors that go into my decision making process are quite extensive, or quite spare, it is usually one or the other. Sometimes I just decide without considering any possible ramifications. For more important decisions; however, I go through a lengthy process. I consider my potential happiness level after the decision. I consider the financial strain that it could impose or the gain it could bring me. I consider what I will do after the decision is made. I consider what other people think of the same decision.

Let's say that I was hungry. I will go into my kitchen and take a look at the food. I consider what I want. I consider whether or not to make what I want. I consider whether or not I will want to clean up what I want. I consider what I would do while eating what I want. I consider what I will do after cleaning up what I want. I consider if it is even worth it to eat now if dinner is coming up. After all these decisions I will usually choose not to eat anything at all and decide If I want a drink. After that decision process I will usually leave the kitchen empty handed and with an empty stomach.


As I continue into college, I plan to keep some the same decision making processes. It seems to have worked so far...

Recipe for Afghanistan

1200 Years of Islam
3 Anglo-Afghan Wars
30 years of Political and Social Unrest
1 Pinch of Taliban
5 Mountains filled with Caves

First, beat 1200 years of Islam until creamy. Then add in 3 Anglo Afghan wars and mix together.
Then mix in 30 years of Political and Social unrest and a pinch of Taliban.

Then pour into caves and let sit in the heat for 3000 years.

Spring Break

I had a very exciting spring break. I wasn't able to just sit around and do nothing like I had hoped. I started the break off with a visit to New York City. It was a beautiful day, and apart from getting lost....it was fun. After that, things took a turn for the worse as I became sick. On top of being sick, I had to travel to Pittsburgh (a 4.5 hour car ride) to visit my grandparents. I came home Thursday and caught up on all the TV I had missed. On Friday, I saw Adventureland with some friends. It was a really good movie. It was filmed at Kennywood, an amusement park in Pittsburgh where I have been many times. On saturday and sunday I finished up my homework and just relaxed.