Perfect Playlist Essay Intro

Music today is just not what it used to be. Sure there are hundreds of good artists and bands today, but in my opinion there are very few bands and artists today that compare to the bands and artists from the earlier days. Many kids and teenagers today are to say the least musically uneducated. Most kids today are poisoned with the mainstream garbage that plays on the radio everyday, and the sad part is that kids call that music. Not to worry though, i have created a playlist that i believe is as close to perfect as you can get. The playlist i have created is both diverse and pure, and i chose songs by some of the greatest bands and artists of all time. REAL MUSIC.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNhLXySzUr0kY3YJtKXPGMGxqTv5lV2jd

Growing up without a dad hasn't always been easy. I think about my dad every single day and think about what my life would be like if he was here. My dad passed away when I was 4 years old and ever since then things have been pretty hard. I often get mad at god for taking my dad away but then I realize that many other kids have had it worse than I do. I still miss him more than anything and wish he could have been here to watch my two older brothers, younger sister, and myself grow up. I was an extremely talented football player and I always wish he could have been in the stands watching me play. I played every one of my football games violently probably because I was always upset with the hardships in my life and not having a dad. I try my best though to be grateful for what I do have and to always remember that thousands of other kids have it much worse than I do.

Thursday Blog Post

I often find that when I listen to rap music periodically, I often tend to use more slang type language. For example I used to listen to a drake song called The Motto, and in the song Drake would say this slang term “YOLO” which meant you only live once, so after listening to that song I would always say “YOLO” after someone would say something that out of the norm or something that was considered risky YOLO actually became an extremely popular slang term all because of a rap song. Also when listening to rap I tend to catch on to many other slang terms that often fall into my everyday vocabulary. Rap music is where I first heard many swear words and other words that I later realized are not exactly nice words. Eminem is very much known for his dark lyrics and use of profanity. Many people don’t realize how much music can influence someone and their use of language. Music in general is catchy and when popular big name musicians use a certain word or slang term, people swill often catch on to that and begin to use it on a daily basis much like I did with the slang term YOLO, which I first heard in a Drake song.  

Monday Post

I really wish that college tuition was not so outrageously expensive. Over the past 15 years, college tuition costs have risen to rates that have never been seen before in the past. People are graduating college with huge amount of student loan debt that has interest rates that make the actual cost of college higher than what is originally on paper. Student loans, if not paid, can ruin your credit and will also stay with you until the day you die if not paid off sooner. Sure there is financial aid and scholarships available, but people are still graduating college with absurd amounts of debt that will take decades to be paid off. Student loans can hurt your chances of getting a loan for a new car and house later on in life. College should not so expensive that it is merely a dream for most people like it is today. $27,000 a year to attend Michigan State University to me seems outrageous and unfair. Who can afford that? I believe that is college was more affordable that more people would be able to receive education and this would better our overall economy.

Embarrassing Time

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life happened in my 8^th grade English class. My teacher assigned each student a topic to give a presentation on in front of the class, and the presentation had to be at least five minutes long. Little did my teacher know that public speaking was my ultimate fear, and I had never given a presentation in front of other students before so to say the least, I was terrified. The day of my presentation, all I could think about all morning was how nervous and scared I was to present later that day. When 4^th block finally started, I walked into my English classroom and sat in my seat with bullets of sweat running down my face. My heart felt like it was going explode out of my chest and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. Finally, it was my turn to present and I walked up to the podium and began to speak. Throughout my presentation I stuttered often and my voice was beyond shaky, I knew that I was making myself look like a fool. After class, I confronted my teacher and told her how scared and nervous I was and she told me that everyone gets a little nervous before public speaking. In high school I decided to take a public speaking class and it helped me get over my fear of public speaking, but I will never forget that embarrassing day in 8^th grade.  

There are three types of sports that I enjoy. Football, basketball, and golf are three sports that I enjoy very much. Football is by far my favorite sport, I first started playing football in 7^th grade and played all the way up into college. I earned a football scholarship but I was forced to stop playing last year due to multiple injuries and concussions. Football has always been an outlet for me and it was my life. Football meant everything to me and gave me the opportunity to relive all of my stress and anger when I strapped up my pads and helmet. My favorite part about playing football was hitting and laying people out. I was a very violent player who really never feared anyone on the field. I played center on offense and middle linebacker on defense. Now I enjoy watching my favorite team play on Sundays on TV, the Detroit Lions. My second favorite sport is basketball. I played basket from age 5 up until 10^th grade of high school. Basketball is a great sport because you are constantly moving around and relying on your teammates throughout a game. Basketball is very fast paced and fun to play. I was always very good at defense because I was so physical and I had quick feet, therefore I could guard pretty much every position. Golf is my third favorite sport. I enjoy golf because it is a very relaxing and peaceful sport. After a long day at work or a stressful day it is always great to play a round of golf in the warm weather with my friends or two older brothers. My entire family loves to golf and my dad was a golf pro for 6 years before he passed away in 1999. Football, basketball, and golf are three sports that I very much enjoy and are all a big part of my life. Sports are everything to me and I will always enjoy playing and watching my three favorite sports.  

I can't think of anything more painful than you loving someone and caring about someone more than you can even put into words and then that person totally screwing you over. It sucks how you can love someone more than anything and yet that person can rip your heart out of your chest and completely take all of your self-confidence away in an instant. It blows my mind how you can spend so much time with someone and then all of a sudden that person can throw everything away with one choice, one action. I do however believe in karma, and I believe that people who have no consideration for other and people who have no problem with hurting other people will end getting what they deserve. Whether that is getting their own hearts broken or even just realizing that what they did ruined someone’s life. When someone you love, trust, and spend a lot of time with betrays you and breaks your heart, you definitely want to just crawl in a hole and be left alone and you also feel like your life is over. Though this is very painful, there is hope. After the girl I spent 3 years of my life with screwed me over, I found myself in an extremely low and dark place. I spent weeks struggling to get through my days and I was a very angry person, but after a few weeks I realized that life was going to go on and everything was going to be okay. I realized that I deserved someone who treated me with respect and loved me for who I am and now things are a lot better and have gotten over what happened. Sometimes when you are going through a tough situation, all you can do is hold on and give things time.  

Why is our education system so flawed? I feel like half of the things I have learned in school are useless things that I will never use in the real world. Why do we have to learn about things that don’t mean anything to us and that are not important or needed for what we want to go into. I want to go into criminal justice for example so why do I need to know trigonometry or sit through an American history class. Why can’t I only take classes that interest me and that will benefit me in my career. Why don’t schools teach us how to invest, manage money, buy a home, buy insurance, or be financially independent, instead I feel like schools teach us things that we truly do not need to know.  

Thursday 2/12/15 Blog

My best friend is a crazy, outgoing, loud, caring, and honest person. He is the type of person who will say whatever is on his mind without thinking of the consequences. He is a very u front and honest person who cares very much about other people. My best friend is very unselfish and would give someone the shirt off of his back if he had to. While my best friend and are very similar, we are also very different in many way. My best friend is very loud and outspoken while I am more of a shy and quiet person. My best friend likes to be around lots of other people and he likes to go to parties while I would rather just hang out with a few people at a time and I don't really enjoy going to parties. My best friend and I both love sports more than anything. Both of our favorite sports is football and we have played football, baseball, and basketball together since elementary school. My best friend and I also both love the same kind of music and many of the same foods. My best friend and i are best friends because we both understand each other completely and we both are always there for each other. My best friend and I will always have each other’s backs.  

Monday Blog 2/9/15

Where has music gone? Whatever happened to real music? What ever happened to real rock n roll and hip hop? What ever happened to bands like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Eagles, AC/DC, The Who, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice n Chains, and U2? And artist such as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, Nas, and Tupac? What ever happened to real music? It seems like today the music industry is just full of auto tuned sellouts and talentless bands and hip hop artist. All I hear on the radio are the same 10 songs all day long that have absolute no meaning behind them. If I have to hear one more Taylor Swift song about how she broke up with her boyfriend in high school or hear Kanye West's auto tuned voice one more time I might throw up. The music industry has changed so much in the last 25 years and in many cases no longer is the music the main priority, instead it’s all about making money. Sure 25 years ago there were terrible musicians and terrible bands around but it seems like today the music industry is almost ruled completely by greedy record producers and talentless individuals and bands. Now of course this is just my personal opinion and many people probably disagree with me but I am just beyond disappointed with where the music industry is today. I am tired of seeing talentless artist auto tune their way to the top of the charts when there are thousands of talented artists and bands who can actually sing and play instruments who go unknown because they refuse to sellout to society and the music industry. I believe that there is hope though because there are many great artists and bands out there today such as Mumford and Sons, Jack Johnson, The Head and The Heart, Linkin Park, Nas, and Eminem. Music is extremely important to me and I love all genera’s of REAL music and I would just like to see less talentless sellouts and more talented real musicians make it big and dominant the music industry.

Describe An Important Person

Ever since I can remember I have always looked up to him. He has always had my back and has never let me down. He is very strong both physically and and mentally and has overcome a lot of obstacles in his life. He taught me how to play basketball, football, and baseball when I was a little kid. We used to play basketball in the driveway, throw the baseball in the yard, and throw the football in the road everyday during the summer and he never missed a sporting event of mine. He himself was a great athlete, and he was and still is my hero to this day. When he moved away to college I was extremely sad because I was losing my best friend but he came home as much as he could to see my mom and my two other siblings. Now he is married and has a little daughter. When I was in high school, he came to every single one of my baseball and football games and he was my biggest supporter. He probably never expected me to be bigger and taller than him! When I signed my letter of intent to play college football last year he was there along with my mom. I owe many of my athletic accomplishments to him because he taught me how to play sports and he showed me how to be a good person. He stepped up to the plate after my dad passed away and helped my mom raise myself and 2 other siblings. He is an awesome person and he is my best friend.

Monday 2/2/15 Blog

As everyone most likely knows by now, the Patriots won the super bowl on Sunday night. Sure the Patriots are a good team and everything but why exactly did the Patriots win the game? I will tell you why.. The Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw a 30 yard pass to Jermaine Kearse who made an amazing tip catch on a ball that was deflected why the Patriots defensive back, The catch put the Seahawks is scoring position and after a 3 yard run by Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks were on the one yard line with 2 timeouts left and 30 seconds on the clock. Myself along with everyone else in America knew that the Seahawks were about to score because they have arguably the best most physical running back in the NFL in Marshawn Lynch and they were on the 1 yard line, it seemed like it was going to be an easy score and the Seahawks would take the lead and run the clock down because they still had 2 timeouts left. Well for some godforsaken reason the Seahawks head coach, Pete Carol decided to throw the ball on the 1 yard line instead of give the ball to "Beast Mode" Marshawn Lynch. And what happened? The patriots intercepted a 1 yard pass and won the game when the Seahawks could have simply given the ball to the best running back in the NFL. Why did they do this? This is a question that myself and millions of other people are asking right now. I have played football since I was 6 years old and even a 6 year old rocket football player could have told you to run the ball when you are on the 1 yard line. Ridiculous. Personally I did not really care about who won because I am a die-hard Lions fan, but it just completely blows my mind that in the super bowl game the Seahawks chose to throw the ball on the 1 yard line instead of give it to the best running back in the NFL to win the game. Poor coaching in my opinion.  

First Post: Background Information

Hello, my name is Evan Eldridge and this is my first year at Kellogg Community College. I am 19 and I graduated last June from Lakeview High School, I earned a football scholarship to play at Siena Heights University and I was there until August when I suffered my sixth concussion and damaged vertebrate in my lower neck during a football practice. I then decided that it was in my best interest to stop playing football so I came home and enrolled at Kellogg Community so here I am now. Making the decision to stop playing football was probably the toughest decision I have ever had to make because I loved playing the game more than anything, but I feel that I made the right choice. My major right now is undecided but I know that I want to do something in business or economics. I enjoy playing golf, both playing and watching basketball, watching both college and NFL football, going camping, hiking, and listening to music. My two favorite sports teams are the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Lakers. My favorite player for the Lions is Mathew Stafford and my favorite player for the Lakers is Kobe Bryant, who in my opinion is the second best shooting guard in NBA history behind only Michael Jordan. I have two older brothers and one younger sister and I enjoy spending time with my entire family. I spend most of my free time lifting weights and training. Since I can no longer play football, lifting and working out is what I love doing more than anything. Working out and lifting weights is a great way to relive stress and to also just improve your overall health. My plan is to transfer to either Western Michigan University or Michigan State University. I hope to improve my writing skills through taking this class.