Is there Life on Other Planets?

For many decades and even centuries, scientists have asked the question as to whether life actually exists on other planets.  In recent years, new discoveries have shown that there are planets just like earth that have the ability to sustain life.  Now whether intelligent life would develop and evolve like it did on earth is another question however.  I think that there may be other life in the universe.  The universe is immense and expanding.  It would be foolish to think that there is only one planet out of trillions of planets that actually has life on it.  What do you think? It is just coincidence that life on earth can into existence? Is there a supernatural force controlling everything?  maybe someday, humans will develop the technology to travel to these remote worlds and discover things that humankind has only dreamed of.  

My success with running

Running has been a big part of my life in recent years.  In grade school, I was always one of the fastest kids in the class.  As high school began to approach, I tried to think of a sport that would best suit my talent.  I chose to run as a sprinter on the track and field team the following year. After one season of sprinting, my track coaches encouraged me to run cross country in the fall to keep my body conditioned for the following spring.  At first, I was hesitant but I soon understood that if I wanted to improve my performance, I had to put in some effort during the off season.  I joined the cross country team and ran a time of 22:21 for my first ever three mile race.  I immediately fell in love with cross country and distance running.  As I improved my times one race after another, I began to question as to whether I wanted to run distance or stay with the sprinters in the spring. I made the decision to stay a distance runner and over the next three years, I would improve my three mile time to 17:17.  Of course, as I improved my running, I became a weekly competitor for the top seven team and eventually made it as an alternate for the state cross country meet my senior season.  As a senior, I was also chosen to represent my team as co captain, a position I held with honor.  When the end of my senior track season came to a close, I thought that I would be running cross country in college. I made the decision to focus on my academics. I told myself that I would still run for fun.  That promise was like a New Year's resolution, you do it for a while but then you stop doing it. This summer, I would like to get back into running.  It taught me what patience, perseverance and hard work was all about. I would be a fool to give something like that up.

What I want to do this summer

Summer is the time to have fun and do the things that you normally couldn't do during the school year.  This summer, I plan on working for the most part, at least during the week.  I also plan on going to the drag races and maybe watching a race at the Joliet autobahn.  Camping at Starved Rock for a weekend with buddies who are home from school would be awesome.  It would feel like going on vacation in a way. Speaking of vacation, I don't think that my family and i will make the trip up north this year.  However, my parents do plan on taking my sister and I on a weekend trip maybe sometime around Labor Day.  In all, the things I plan on doing this summer can probably match that of many other college students my age.  I guess it isn't really what you do that matters, it's what you make of it. 

     

Favorite Movies

Everyone has their favorite movie.  What makes a movie your favorite? Is it the characters, the actors, the music, the plot, the places or the overall message if there is one?

Some of my favorite older movies include:

• Star Wars: The Original trilogy (1977-1983)
• Indiana Jones trilogy (1981-1989)
• Harry Potter movies (2001-2011)
• Jaws (1975)
• Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
• The Searchers (1956)
• Grumpy Old Men (1993, 1995)
• Uncle Buck (1989)
• Dennis the Menace (1993)
• Twister (1996)
• The Fugitive (1993)
• Back To The Future trilogy (1985-1990)
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
• The Great Outdoors (1988)
• Caddy Shack (1980)
• Kindergarten Cop (1990)

What makes these movies fun to watch is the people in them and the story that is told.  Of course these movies are considered old by today's younger generation but are in my opinion, much better because they are original and not a remake of a dying series or a quick way to make a fast buck.  

A Close Encounter in the Dark

At night, the area around my new home is full of nocturnal activity.  Raccoons climb up the trees, frogs croak near the creek, deer walk through the woods and coyotes howl every time a nearby train blows its horn.  One night, about two weeks ago, I was sitting by a fire I had lit about an hour before. By this time, the fire started dying down and the darkness began to creep over the yard again. Something told me that I wasn't alone. I thought I saw something come out of the woods across the street but what ever it was vanished.  Once it passed under a nearby street light, I identified my stalker.  Out of nowhere, a coyote came within at least 25 feet of where I was sitting.  I have seen coyotes all of my life and have grown to appreciate their high yips and howls late at night.  However, this experience was unlike any other I had witnessed. Shocked and somewhat frightened, I stood up to make my presence known. It looked at me and I looked at it for what seemed like the longest time. Then, it kept walking toward the trees to my right.  Knowing that it was coming closer with no sign of fear, I clapped and yelled.  It ran off and I never saw it again.

Most people would think that I am a wimp for reacting the way I did.  What sent a chill up my spine was that it wasn't afraid of me initially.  In all, at least my story provided entertainment for my parents.  Good thing it wasn't a mountain lion. I have heard people in the area saying that they have seen paw prints by the nearby creek that match those of mountain lions.   

If I had one million dollars

Imagine: I just won one million dollars! I'm so happy, I can't believe that I actually won something for once in my life.

Lets pretend that taxes don't exist and I had a million dollars cash in my hand. I have to ask myself what would I do with a million dollars?  

Here are a few things I would do with a million dollars: 

• Distribute equal portions to my family members
• Invest some of it in stocks or mutual funds
• Donate some to charity
• Take a nice vacation
• Buy a nice car that I can still afford even if I spent all of the money later on
• Pay off any debts I have
• Pay for all of my college
• Buy a four wheeler or dirt bike. Better yet, buy a dune buggy
• Get a lawyer
• Save the rest

My Italian Background

If I could pick any language to learn, I'd probably pick Italian.  Why would I pick Italian? Italian was the language spoken by some of my great great grandparents.  Growing up, I always remember my my dad telling me stories of his grandma speaking Italian with her friends at church when they didn't want the younger kids hearing what they were saying.  My grandfather grew up in an Italian American household and can understand most Italian.  The Italian spoken around my grandpa was not standard Italian, however.  I'm not sure if it was Sicilian because people from Calabria didn't like Sicilians, but it had southern roots. He told me that a waiter in Italy said that the southern dialect was the truest form of Italian.

Switching sides or locations, my grandmother's father was born in Asiago, Italy in 1908.  Asiago, famous for their cheese, is located about sixty miles northwest of Venice in the province of Vicenza. Asiago was also a site of a World War 1 conflict launched by the Austro-Hungarians.  I have asked my grandma if her father or uncles ever spoke Italian.  She said that they really didn't. I began to wonder why this was so.

If anything, I can assume that northern Italians looked more Western than southern Italians and therefore didn't have to live close to each other in small neighborhoods like the one my grandpa grew up in.  If anything I am curious to find out what traditions my great grandpa's did keep and I would like to visit the village he was born in one day.

It's very important to find our roots and discover something about our past. If we don't know how we got here, we won't know how to move on.