Hunter S

The father of gonso journalism is what he is often to referred to as. However, Hunter S. Thompson is somehow much more than that. Although, it is true that he has revolutionized writing and taken journalism to a new place that it has never been before.
Hunter S. Thompson did not just write about topics he thought were interesting or profitable. He went out and found out first hand the truth of what he wanted to write about and wrote about it with a twist. He did not read a book about Hell's Angels or look them up on the internet. The man did not use any secondary sources at all. Instead, he jumped on a bike with them and drank and did what they did with them and learned from them.
The Hell's Angel Motorcycle Club, or Hell's Angels Motorcycle Corporation, has often been associated with drug dealing and violence and is thought to be outlaws in the United States and in Canada. They are extremely dangerous but this did not stop Thompson. Although, he has said "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." Anyone who has ever read a Hunter S. Thompson piece understands how this philosophy is applied in his line of work.
The great thing about his writing is very simple; it's hilarious. It's very straightforward. "I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me." (Thompson, Hunter S.) Even for a person who would never consider doing any of the things he writes about the story can be appreciated and enjoyed. His writing is all about taking chances and hoping they work. As Hunter S. Thompson would say "Buy the ticket, take the ride." Lucky for him the ticket was well worth the investment.

Works Cited:

Hunter S Thompson Quotes Copyright 2008 BrainyMedia.com
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/hunter_s_thompson.html

Thompson, Hunter S Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream 1971

Vietnamese Food

I don't understand what it is with Vietnamese food that gets me. Okay, for example, tomorrow is Halloween and all I can think about is "well, I'm gonna be in Brooklyn, maybe I could talk Tom into eating Viet". It's so weird. I'm addicted. I guess I could just buy some vermicelli, scallions and peanuts and I would be perfectly okay but then who sneak that little salad under the vermicelli like the Vietnamese restaurants do? Who would bring out a gorgeous plate of food with that little clear carrot sauce? I want some right now! Maybe I should not be writing a blog about food... but, I mean, Oh Myyy God! It's so good. I want some right now. MMMmmMm It's kinda like when I crave only certain chocolates i.e, ghirardeli, lindt and/or dove, I hate that hershey garbage. I had some pizza for dinner, it sucked! I want Vietnamese food, hmm maybe some chocolate too.

Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau was born in Massachusetts in the early 1800's. He was a part of a poor family that sold pencils but attended renowned schools such as Concord Academy and then Harvard College. He worked as a teacher for short time before quitting because he could not punish the students. He was unable to find another teaching job at this time. However, this was around the time he met Ralph Waldo Emerson. Many people believe this to be the most influential event of his life. I believe it is because a lot of what he does later seems to have been influenced by this.
I believe that Ellen Sewall's rejection to Thoreau's marriage proposal in 1840 also impacted him tremendously. Not only did she reject him but she also rejected his brother before him. She was pressure from her family because they believed he was too radical and financially unstable. This, I think, would negatively impact any man. There's also the fact that he moved into a shack which was relatively far from the rest of society to be alone to write five years later. The sad part of it which is stated online was that "Walden was met with scant interest. He revised the work eight times before a publisher accepted it, and the book found only marginal success during Thoreau's lifetime."(Spark notes p.1)
If his life was not sad enough, Thoreau's relationship with Emerson slowly faded due to tension most likely caused by Thoreau being so close with Lidian, Emerson's second wife. He moves back into his family home and takes selling pencils. As the slavery debate was taking place at this time he took an active role in speaking out against slavery. However, in 1862 at the age of 44, he dies of tiberculosis.

Works Cited
Walden Henry David Thoreau
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/walden/context.html

Aldous Huxley

I guess you're all wondering who I've chosen... it's Aldous Huxley. I chose him because he did drugs and admitted to liking it. He did not lecture about how it screwed him up, probably because trying a drug does not actually screw you up, getting addicted does.
Huxley had somewhat of a depressing life, so he is allowed a vice. When he was fourteen his mother died, which most people don't realize that in itself can impact a person tremendously. If that was not enough he went partially blind two years later. He was able to regain some sight in one eye and learned how to read braille, and to me, this shows a lot of character. However, he was unable to pursue what it was he really wanted to do, become a scientist or fight in the front lines of WWI. This must have been hard on him seeing as how his grandfather and brother were both biologists. Huxley decided to follow in his father's footsteps it seems with becoming a writer.
Aldous Huxley's first works were satirical/cynical pieces on society. After that he started writing about fictional places, which is somewhat ironic as he states in The Doors of Perception that he is not very imaginative. Writing about places that do not exist and so vividly as if you had been there not too long ago must take quite some imagination. Toward the latter part of his life he became known as a guru for Californian hippies (keep in mind this is the fifties and sixties). He experienced and wrote on mescaline and after trying LSD showed some interest in Hinduism, but then again who wouldn't. Not too surprisingly as his life started out depressing it too ended that way. His house and papers were burned down in a bush fire. Two years later he died but has left a lasting impression as it has been almost forty-five years since he passed and we are still studying him.

"Half of the human race lives in manifest obedience to the lunar rhythm; and there is evidence to show that the psychological and therefore the spiritual life, not only of women, but of men too, mysteriously ebbs and flows with the changes of the moon. There are unreasoned joys, inexplicable miseries, laughters and remorses without a cause."
-Aldous Huxley

TV shows

I find it fascinating how addictive certain television shows can be. I love to watch House, Heroes and Lost. My boyfriend and the majority of my friends are also addicted to these and other shows. Its funny because in many ways we really cannot relate to these characters lives' even though we wish we could. House is a genius diagnostics doctor, yet can be quite cold-hearted. Heroes is a show about, well, heroes and lets be real, we do not have any powers. Lost is a show about a group of very diverse people who are lost on an island after leaving Australia.
Most people tend to stick to or be attracted to things that are familiar to them. When most people watch TV it would make sense that they would tune into something they can relate to. So why, I ask, is everyone so enthralled with the unfamiliar? I've heard that people use TV as a way to escape their everyday lives, which makes sense. When I read a book I always see myself in the shoes of the protagonist and on several occasions the antagonist. Yet it still baffles me how fascinated we all are with the lives of other people, especially those of fictional characters who happen to differ so much from ourselves.

MTA

So what's up with the MTA? Why, I mean, does it suck so much? Every time I wait for the 62 it takes twice as long as it should according to the time written on the stop and then, as if it couldn't get worse, the asshole bus driver just leaves. Unwarranted, mind you, he just doesn't pick the people at the stop up when he doesn't feel like it. I mean isn't there any repercussions for these assholes? If I were to inadequately do my job I'm quite positive someone would have some qualms with it. Even if I knew I could get away with something but that it would negatively impact someone I wouldn't do it. I guess that seperates me from the a$$hole bus drivers of Staten Island.

Coffee

What is it with coffee that even when you don't want it, you still want it. Every since i started working in the chem lab I have been offered coffee every day and have been unable to refuse... is it that good? It makes my mouth taste like it does in the morning when you first wake up. That can't be good. It's not that great and the whole "wakes me up" feeling only lasts for like an hour or two. I doubt thats even real. Coffee probably has that whole placebo affect. I mean the thought of coffee makes me feel more alert. The strange thing is, I love tea. Tea even generally has more caffeine and its healthier, so why coffee? Why are Americans so fixated on coffee. What happened in Boston was so long ago, I mean, can't we stop dumping the tea and drink that?

Love?

What is love? This has been debated for quite some time... yet we seem to have no definitive answer. I believe this is due to our perception of accumulated words in our somewhat extensive vocabulary. Every word in the dictionary of our brain has its own definition which has been acquired through our experiences and influences. No two people have the same experiences and/or influences in life therefore our perception of words tend to vary.
Being that love is a lofty subject, defining it has some complexity to it. A while back my boyfriend and I were discussing love amongst ourselves. We are often criticized on our views of love because we are 18 years of age and living with each other. We are told we are too young and that we have not experienced "true love". We believe that we are experiencing true love every moment we have spent together. I gave up my family to be with him because they were not accepting of him. He gave up his privacy and a big chunk of himself to let me move in.
His mother heard the conversation between the two of us and felt we were naive. She told us that the only true love you can ever feel is that for your children. Her explanation is that your children come from you and that you give up a part of yourself when they're born to care for them. She says from the day they are born you must put your child before yourself, which to her is the biggest sacrifice a person can make. This to her is the only kind of true love that can exist.
My boyfriend and I had a problem accepting this definition for love. Not only did it imply that we did not know what love was but that no one who has not yet mothered or fathered a child knows what love is. I cannot accept this definition for the mere fact that it puts a restriction on a word that does not have any. If you look up what love is in the dictionary it just states that general affection and pleasant emotions for anyone/anything can equate to love.
This lit a light bulb in my boyfriends head. He went online and looked up people who had love for things. He found a story of a girl who loved a water bottle. It belonged to her late brother who was a very active/sporty person. He took that bottle everywhere and it was a source of energy and life for him. He meant a lot to her and now all she has left of him is this bottle. I feel that she really feels love for this inanimate object.
My conclusion for the definition of love is that there is no definition. I do not feel my boyfriends mother is wrong, to her maternal love is the truest. I do not feel that the girl who claims to love her brothers old water bottle is lying and I certainly cannot argue with my own emotions. If we all are correct and no one is wrong in loving anything or anyone there cannot be a definitive answer as to what exactly love is beside affection. It doesn't say much but it doesn't have to.