Sunday, April 3, 2016

My worst fear

Everyone has a fear. Many people fear spiders, others fear heights and some fear snakes.  As for me, I have a fear of rodents and more so rats.  I don't know what it is about rats that induce fear into my system. It could be their hairless tails that look like worms moving behind them, the teeth they use to bite with or the squeaking sound they make.  As long as I can remember, I have feared anything that exhibits any one of these so called qualities. The thought of something like that running up my leg or across my feet is giving me the chills right now.  I anyone were ever looking to torture me, just put me in a room full of rats. As we have all heard many times, the best way to overcome a fear is to learn about the object or in my case objects that cause my body to shiver and become scared. I have been able to somewhat become less fearful of the animal by watching videos where people go "ratting" to remove rats from areas with large amounts of waste.  By watching these videos on the internet, I allow myself to imagine what it would be like to take part in such an activity where I am close to the thing I fear the most. I am hopeful that I will outgrow this fear and move on with my life. It's important for me to remember the old saying: "They're more afraid of you than you are of them."



I wonder what the 1950s were like?

The 1950s, a decade we all have come to know as the decade of America.  I often wonder what it would actually be like to live in a time when everyone knew each other, neighborhoods were nice and kept up, and all of the stores for shopping were all located in the downtown district of the city. Due to the fact that I was not born in the 1950s and do not currently have a Delorean with a flux capacitor to travel there, my primary source of information as to what life was like in the 50's is my grandparents. I enjoy going through the black and white pictures of their childhood. In many pictures, I can sometimes identify where the picture was taken. It's very interesting to see how nice the houses were kept in the area. Unfortunately, many older city neighborhoods today suffer from the neglect of the current inhabitants to perform basic property upkeep and its is often a shame to see the places my grandparents used to socialize completely in disrepair. What a neighborhood looked like isn't as important as the things my grandparents did to entertain themselves.

My grandpa often tells me the story of how him and his friends used to go to the nearest dump to find an old car hood to use as a sled in the winter or how he and the rest of the second generation Italian Americans in his neighborhood thought they were unstoppable at basketball until they went to high school and played against much taller kids (anyone over 5'7).

My grandmother, the youngest of her siblings, went to an all girls catholic school and her father, my great-grandpa, owned a bowling alley and a gas station in nearby Lockport, Il. The most interesting story that she can remember taking place in the late 50's was one where she and her friend spotted a UFO while they were outside in the front yard of her friend's house.  I like this story due to the fact that UFO sightings after the Roswell incident were common and were therefore an actual piece of that time period.  Of the many stories my grandmother has told me, none of them can be more important than the ones she tells about going up north to the same lake my family goes to today. She tells me what the nearby towns looked like and what the lake was like. What is so important about these stories, is the fact that most of everything she described from going up there sixty years ago is still the same.  My dad even brought up one of the old 1955 Johnson 10 h.p. boat motors for the smaller rental boats a few years ago.  While using the motor, I imagined my great grandpa using the same motor to fish in the same spots.

In all, the 1950s from what I have been told by my grandparents, was a time of adventure, fun, excitement and freedom. I will continue to ask my grandparents to provide me with many more details of their childhood so that when I have children of my own, I can tell them the stories that go along with the pictures that were taken.  

Dreaming

What is dreaming? Does it predict the future and provide details from past events?  Does dreaming help one determine right from wrong or does it allow one to see and experience something that would never be possible in real life? Then again, one could argue that dreaming does take place in real life. People have dreams and they are real.  Every night, I dream about many different things and am in many different places during the duration of the dream in which I am having.  I often dream about the past, future and present.  Sometimes, I dream about past events that took place in real life that I wish I could have changed in real life. I have dreams that defy natural laws, such as flying by myself or appearing in a place out of thin air.  I also have dreams that reenactment scenes from movies I enjoy watching.  If a awaken from a dream that is significant in the events that took place, I will look up its meaning just for fun.  In the comment section of websites that explain dreaming, some people claim to never really have any dreams that they can remember when they wake up.  Others claim to not have dreams at all.  I find it weird that some people do not have dreams.  I wonder what goes on in their heads when they do sleep. I believe that dreams allow us to truly be free and do things that we would never do in the real life such as breaking the law, telling people what you really think of them, and not caring for the consequences of actions you commit whatsoever.