Open source software.

I have recently been using open source software and I am thoroughly impressed. I started using Mozilla Firefox, a free, downloadable, web browser, probably a year and a half ago and am enjoying it much more than Internet Explorer. There are no pop-ups and I haven’t gotten any viruses and I don’t use a virus protection program. Aside from Mozilla, I’ve also started using the Open Office suite which is basically a free version of Microsoft Office. It saves to the same file type as all of the Office programs and is just as easy to use. Instead of paying for the whole Microsoft Office suite, you can basically get it for free. My favorite program though is definitely GIMP. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. it is basically a free version of Adobe Photoshop, a $600 program. It has all of the capabilities of Photoshop except its better because I don’t have to pay for it. I’ve done some incredible thing with it and I can now make my pictures look absolutely amazing.

Hot weather.

My feelings towards hot weather are ones of extreme distaste. When I say hot weather, I mean extremely hot weather. I really don’t like anything above 90 unless I’m within 10 feet of a pond or lake or some body of water big enough to swim in. When it’s really hot and humid, everything is sticky and disgusting. The other day, I went to walk up the stairs in school and I put my arm on the railing. When I went to make the turn, I continued to move but the flesh on my arm held firmly in place. I’m very surprised all of my skin stayed on. It hurts so bad and left a large red mark on my arm. Also, during soccer practice the other day, everyone was so sweaty that they literally slid past each other. It was so gross. Beyond that, hot day are accompanied by dehydration and nausea which makes everyone angry and when they get mad, they really get mad. For example, the other day, someone took my drink playfully and I almost killed them. I feel like I’d like to move to a place with a mild climate instead of a place where it goes from one extreme to another in a matter of three weeks.

Politics

I am so glad I can’t vote in this upcoming election because I don’t think I could honestly be happy voting for any of the current candidates. I’m definitely not conservative and I’m definitely not liberal. I would never vote for Hilary ( I realize she isn’t in the race anymore)and not because she’s a women but because she is stupid. She’s attempting to ride her husbands coat tails and she lacks any good policies. I have a lot of trouble trusting Obama. He seems like a good guy but he does lack experience and his name rhymes with Osama and his middle name is Hussein ( because those are totally good reasons to distrust someone, right?). Aside from Democrats, we have the wonderfully American GOP which makes me ashamed to be a citizen of the U.S. Their candidate, John McCain, seems to be better than our present fearless leader. However, he is pretty old and might die in office… Also, he doesn’t seem to want to change anything, just leave it the way it is. Of course, it’s not all their fault. They are just a product of a flawed political system. Apparently we live in a democracy yet seem to have little control over what goes on. Our tax dollars go towards paying the national debt and the very “important” war that is being fought in the middle east to preserve oil… I mean freedom.  Seriously’ in many European countries, they  have universal heath care and socialized education. Why can’t we achieve that? Oh yeah, it’s because the congress is actually run by the special interest groups who are only interested in themselves and nothing else.

African Countries

What is up with African countries? They’re so ridiculous. I mean, some of them are relatively normal but the majority of them are so messed up. In Mauritania, a country in northwestern Africa, there is still slavery. There are still people being owned by other people! Seriously, you’d think someone would say, :”Hey, stop owning people!” but no one does. Also, I swear to god that every country in Africa has an overpopulation crisis but people refuse to stop having babies. I’m not saying that I don’t empathize with the people of Africa because I do and I’m willing to help them if I can. I mean, they live in Africa for God’s sake. However, they have to do some things for themselves. If you can’t feed your kids as it is, maybe you shouldn’t produce more infants. I realize that they don’t all have educations but that is pretty basic. I also realize that they don’t have adequate birth control but that really isn’t an excuse because they could practice natural birth control. Besides all of that, they have ridiculous country names. Take the Central African Republic for instance. Could you get any more generic than that? And then theres Swaziland (need I say more?). All in all, Africa is ridiculous.

School is ova.

Oh my god. School is finally over. I am so happy. You have no idea. This year has been so stressful and I was always rushing to get my work done and it’s finally over. Now it’s time for me to have a ridiculously busy summer leading into an even busier senior year. My life rocks. I have made a revelation though. I’m thinking that I should probably start doing my work when it’s assigned instead of doing it whenever I feel like and then playing catch up all year. So this year wasn’t so bad. I also made some new friends and lost some old friends and gained a wonderful girlfriend. Still, I guess I really just hate high school. I enjoy seeing my friends every day and all that junk but I hate doing high school work. It seems so meaningless to me because a lot of it is very pointless and I don’t feel like I’m getting anything out of it. However, I have to do it so I guess I’ll just deal for one more year. That’s also kind of weird. Now there is only one year left in high school for me and now I actually have to start making decisions and acting like an adult. I can still enjoy my summer and maybe next year I will come back with a better attitude.