Out of Place

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere?  That you thought the other people there might have been judging you because you were different?  Well I don’t know about you, but five days a week, when I go to class at Missouri State University, I feel…out of place.

The thing is, I’m a city boy, with no farm background whatsoever, majoring in Animal Science which is in the Agriculture department.  Talk about being out of my element.  Last semester I took one agriculture class and this semester I am taking two, and they are all the same; they are all taken by the farm kids who grew up around this stuff and have a better understanding of the subject than I could hope to have by the time I graduate!  The classes (which are usually lectures) contain around 75 students on average, and more than half of them either; wear cowboy/girl boots and belt buckles to class, drive muddy, 4×4, American trucks that blare out country music, and/or have thick country accents.  I, on the other hand, obviously dress like someone who grew up in a large city, and (when I had a car before it was wrecked) drove a sub-compact import with the bass turned up listening to Top 40 music.  I also don’t have a regional accent.  All of these things combine and make me ask myself, ‘what the hell am I doing here!?’  And then I remember, ‘oh yeah, I love animals and want to learn how to help take better care of them so that they can take better care of us.’  But, no matter what I say to myself, I can’t help but feel like I’m the odd one out.

But recently, I had the opportunity to prove to my peers, and more importantly, myself  that I can do this, and that it doesn’t matter what background you come from.  If you do the work, you can do anything. 

So, on to the story.  Last semester in my Animal Science class, we were assigned a group project of reporting on either an omnivorous, vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.  I chose Vegetarian.  In the group, I was tasked with finding the answer to the hypothetical question, ‘if 1000 Americans were to switch to a vegetarian lifestyle, how many animals would be saved?’  So I went to the web, and by the time we had to present, I had done some crazy math with ridiculously large numbers and came up with a formula to figure it out.  Let me just say, I impressed A LOT of people and received many compliments.  I would definitely put it down in my book of crowning achievements!

The point of this post, I guess, is to not dwell on what other people might think of you.  I know we hear that all the time, but it’s true.  The less you are  concerned about what other people think, the more you’ll realize that you’re actually pretty smart, so long as you put in the same effort or more as everyone else.  Don’t ever doubt who you are, where you’re going, or why you’re here.

“You cannot change what you are, only what you do.”
― Philip Pullman

Sunshine (the movie): Overrated or not?

So, I’m gonna try something here. I’m going to try and do a post about a movie once a month (to be easy, I’ll dedicate the 10th of each month to blogging about a movie).

*WARNING!  HERE BE SPOILERS*

Okay, so, today’s movie is Sunshine.  Sunshine is a 2007 sci-fi movie directed by Danny Boyle and stars a variety of different actors like Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne,  and Chris Evans.  Anyways, the film is set in 2057 and focuses on a group of astronauts and scientists who are attempting to send a bomb into the Sun.  Yes, a bomb.  And now you ask, ‘why the hell would anyone want to blow up the Sun?’  Well the Sun isn’t exactly the target of the bomb, it’s the Q-ball (a particle that physicists say are remnants from the Big Bang) which is causing the Sun to “die” at a extremely fast rate.  Now if the Sun dies, there goes the Earth and all it’s inhabitants.  So this bomb is meant to blast out all the Q-ball particles and essentially create a star within a star.  Star-ception anyone?  But then we find out that this is the second attempt and crew sent to throw a bomb into the Sun?  What happened to the first crew?  Well they never came back, nothing was ever heard from them again.  I smell foreshadowing.  So as expected, everything goes wrong and people die.  And then, the most amazing and visually astounding four minutes and twenty seconds of cinema history occurs.  I am of course talking about Capa’s jump from the Icarus II to the Stellar Bomb (here’s a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clG_1sqOsBs).  Everything about the scene was perfect!  The acting, the cinematography, the special effects, and the music. Oh. My. God. The music.  Let me just say that John Murphy created a masterpiece with his song Adagio in D minor, also known as the Surface of the Sun.

But now to my real point.  Why was this film so under-the-radar?  I just don’t get it.  Many people will point to the third act as the movie’s kryptonite, but I would argue that it was an essential part of the film.  Sure the whole turn from normal sci-fi to religous-slasher was unexpected, but it helped to serve Sunshine’s look into religion, human psychology and the limits we are capable of pushing to when everything and everyone is counting on us.

Let me know what you thought about the movie in the comments!  And don’t be afraid to disagree with me 🙂

“At the end of time, a moment will come when just one man remains. Then the moment will pass. Man will be gone. There will be nothing to show that we were ever here… but stardust.”  Pinbacker – Sunshine

Hello world!

Well, my first blog. Not exactly sure what to write.  I guess I’ll just start with the obligatory “about me” post.

About Me:

• Occupation – College Student. Technically “undeclared” but I’m pretty much focused on a degree in Animal Science.
• Mixed heritage – Hispanic and Caucasian.
• Country of Origin- The good ol’ US of A.
• Spoken Languages – English, tho I am trying to learn Spanish, because you know, I’m half Hispanic.
• Dreams and Aspirations – I’ll figure that out eventually.

My reason for even starting this blog is just for fun, although I’m sure at some point in time I’ll be posting serious posts, ones that I feel are important to discuss.  However, for the time being, I’m just going to have fun with this.

The logic behind the name is that I am just a random earthling, whose life is possibly similar to other people, but also completely unique and original.

Well that’s all for now, until next time.  And also this is probably cliche, but I’m going to try and remember to end all my posts with random quotes, so here it is:

Read in order to live.
Gustave Flaubert