Sunday, April 13, 2008

Dreams

A lucid dream is when you realize you are in a dream as you are dreaming. There are several levels of lucidity, from waking up and realizing you were dreaming to being conscientiously aware of the fact you are dreaming and being able to control your dream. This control may come easy for some however may be quite difficult for others. Problem solving has become a popular topic of interest to researchers as they try and determine weather one is able to solve complex problems in their dreams. For example if there was a math problem which you memorized before you went to sleep, in your dream could you bring it up and work on it as you are dreaming and when you wake up have the answer to the problem? This would certainly make the 22 years which an average person sleeps more productive if this is possible. Not just problem solving but creation as well could also be achieved. Could an artist create a painting in his dream and memorize the exact detail for when he wakes up, or a musician compose a song as he dreams so when he wakes up he will already know what it sounds like or even have already learned how to play it on a particular instrument. What is already in your head is vast and the possibilities of what you can do with what is there are endless. The paradox of lucid dreaming, sleeping while awake, may be a way to discover a phenomenon of the human mind which could never have been taken seriously.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Gambling, it’s a business. A lot of people don’t see it that way; most people see it as an addiction. However, I see it as a way to earn some extra spending money, like an allowance or an income. You have to play it smart and start out small; you cannot just take all of your money and put it on a single bet especially if it’s not a sure thing. When I bet I think about all of the odds and I know what I’m betting on. You have to know the game, be familiar with what you’re dealing with or else you’ll lose. I can see how people become addicted. If I lose a bet sometimes I become frustrated, this makes me careless and I place bets that don’t stand a chance. You want to win so badly but are making stupid mistakes. That’s how the addiction starts, when you don’t see it as a business but an easy way to make money. Play smart and treat it like business and you don’t get addicted.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sleeping is a drug. As i wake up in the morning and hear my alarm the most comforting feeling i have is when i get up to turn the alarm off and proceed to lie back in my bed. This could mean trouble if I did not plan on this but I purposely do it so i can go back to bed. One may ask Why not just keep sleeping till when im really supposed to wake up? I asked myself this same question and when thought about i came to the conclusion that my body was addicted to that feeling of going back to bed after i get up to shut the alarm off. To compensate for this I would set my alarm earlier and earlier and reset it to wake me up after I went back to sleep. I found myself getting up to shut off the alarm three sometimes four times a morning before i had actually gotten up. Over the years I have developed a way for me to wake up easily and without trouble, as by the third time my body would get up it would be easier than the second. Each time I would lay back in bed it would be harder for me to fall back into a sleep and then i would eventually not be tired in the morning when i actually got up. The feeling of going back in bed was addictive to my body and eventually I learned of a way to give it to my body while still being able to get up on time.
As procrastination is considered by many a bad habit i consider it a blessing in disguise. When looked upon on the outside there is only one form of procrastination but from within there are two. There is true procrastination where the individual puts of the task till the last minute and is completely unprepared as he or she rushes the task, and there are the individuals on the other hand who do not accomplish or finish the task physically till the last minute but are thinking of how to get it done with the time they have till that last minute before the deadline. As your imagination is able to construct pretty much anything it wants it is sensible to conclude that an individual is able to construct a paper, a problem or whatever it is that needs to be done before they actually physically do it. To call this imaginative construction, procrastination is a common mistake as this is truly not procrastination due to the fact that the individual is actually accomplishing something in his thoughts and his head related to this task so that when the time comes to execute they know exactly what to do and how to do it.

Monday, February 4, 2008

As Eli Manning dropped back with 35 seconds left, down by 4 on the 13 yard line i felt anxious as i saw him draw his focus to the end zone. As he released the ball you could see the defensive corner for the New England Patriots stumble and try hard to recover lost ground but by then it was too late, the ball was already in the hands of New York Giants Wide receiver Plaxico Buress as he was pointing to the crowd in triumph. After the Giants scored what would be the game winning touchdown the Patriots obtained possession deep in their own territory with only 24 seconds left. It was a sad sight as all quarterback Tom Brady could do was throw bombs down the field to star wide receiver Randy Moss and pray for a catch which would give them the opportunity to tie the game. Super Bowl 42 was the opportunity for the New England Patriots to make history as they were given the chance to close a perfect season with a Super Bowl victory. There is a lesson to be learned here, as the Patriots won all 18 football games they were praised as the best team in football and possibly the best team ever. But no matter how many games you win, no matter how many points you put up on the scoreboard you will fall short of greatness if you do not come away with that one game, the Super Bowl. Every victory, every touchdown pass and every defensive stop was ultimately for nothing. It is a shame that a team is allowed to go so far and work so hard to end the season with a pat on the back, but that as they say is football.