Movie Night: The Avengers

 It was the nineteenth of October and I found myself heading to my school at seven o'clock at night to see a movie. The night was of the cloudy sort with a kiss of a chilly breeze; fortunately I had brought my sweater. The scene was just right for a classic outdoor screening for a horror flick. However the movie shown today was The Avengers. It didn't take long for me to arrive at the school that would serve as a movie theater for the night. The admission price was a very affordable one dollar; you received a complementary button of your choice for the purchase. I had arrived a couple minutes early, so I took the liberty to explore the establishment prior to the movie showing.

There was a total of three booths, two of which sold refreshments and one that sold buttons. The button booth was of no interest to me, so to no surprise I headed to refreshment stand first. I first went the booth that sold only two items: cookies and bagged cheesy popcorn. What really astonished me and made me seriously concerned for the well-being of my wallet that night were the prices. Two dollars for popcorn! Enough said. This idea of overpriced food made my hunger dissipate at an alarming rate. However I did purchase some coffee and pizza at an understandable total of 3.75$.

It did not take long for the night to get going and the movie began without a hitch. Now I had seen the movie prior, so watching the movie was a redundant exercise. However the reason I went to this school event was not for the cinema, but for the social experience. I speculate that most of the other alumni there were present for the same motives. I had a splendid time watching the movie with my friends; adding on to the experience as a whole.

I can say with full confidence that the whole event was an enjoyable one. The music and jubilant atmosphere were a forecast of the great night ahead. The movie was great and the setup was perfect to get the most out of the experience. I heard that another Movie Night was being planned; I can't wait for it.       

 

Continue

Is Pure Altruism Possible?

 First of all, to have a relevant opinion on this, we need to know what altruism is. Altruism is the practice of a selfless act for the well being of others. In other words its doing something for someone, no matter the risks, for nothing in return. This is what my classmates and I had to discuss in our Theory of Knowledge class and ponder on whether this is possible or not. We were able to come up with several opinions on this and even took sides on the matter. It was an intriguing topic for us. Amazingly however, being so early in the morning, we were able to come up with some rather brilliant presumptions.

I believe pure altruism is not possible. One of the reasons is because what one of my classmates pointed out, we can't tell whether a person is altruistic or not because we don't know what they're feeling. You are not also capable of self judging yourself whether you are showing an act of pure altruism because just thinking about whether you committed that act will show that you really didn't do it for the well being of others, but instead to self acknowledge yourself. Whether it's a big risk you are taking in order for the well being of others, or a simple act of kindness, there will always be some kind of acknowledgement, whether it's from self or other people. You're still getting something in return, whether you want it or not.

Another reason why I don't believe in pure altruism is because of religion related arguments. In Christianity, God is supposedly the ultimate being and that all human beings should believe in him and give thanks to him for everything we have. Clearly this is not pure altruism. So if the "ultimate being" is not able to reach this, how will it ever be possible for a human to reach it. Some other arguments would be how the Christian religion believes that you have to believe in Jesus Christ in order to enter "heaven" because of his sacrifice he did for mankind. This is not a pure altruism either. This is from a religious point of view though.

In the end it was really fun topic to discuss in our class because of the various opinions that most of the time did make sense but would then be contradicted by something else and so on and so on. In my opinion, I would consider this as a paradox because we'll never really know what an act of pure altruism really feels like or tell whether a person is being purely altruistic or not. However, now that I think about it, maybe it is possible. For example, I'm sure most of us have all experienced this, where your parent makes you give your toy to your little brother in order to make him happy but makes you mad. Therefore, you're doing something good and get nothing in return. Unless your parent acknowledges you in some way, then you are getting something in return making it not selfless. Yea it's not possible.

Continue

College Applications

 
     "I can't wait till I start applying to college", that's how I used to think when I was about 12 years old, but now I wish that I never had to apply. Now that the time has come and college application are open, I am stressing out over how to get certain information. I'm thinking how am I suppose to get in my SAT scores if I already put in my scores in the application, why would it ask for the same information twice. I kept hearing form previous seniors "I'm busy with college applications", but they never told me how stressful it is to fill out the application. I didn't know half of the things they were asking for, I either had to talk to my parents or talk to my teacher to get some help.
 

Continue

The Rally of Max Pep!!

As I entered the packed gymnasium, filled with M.A.Firebaugh High School alumni, the atmosphere is electric. The pure energy felt throughout the relatively small enclosure was undeniable. An unaltered spirit of what it meant to be a Firebaugh High School student hit me as I entered the "area of max peppiness". The layout was practical and very well organized: freshman in the middle sitting in chairs, on the left bleachers a mixture of sophomores and juniors, and in the right bleacher the rest of the juniors with the undeniable head of the pack seniors. More after the jump.

Continue