7th post

Run Like Fire Once More
The first thing that caught my attention was that this whole story was based around one single race. This race was extraordinary because it was 3,100 miles long and lasted for two months. Each person in this race had to run around the same block everyday but would switch direction they ran each day. I found this to be severely boring and very intense. A person who wanted to stay in the race had to run fifty miles a day from six in the morning to midnight. I personally find this to me very boring and repetitive. I would have no drive to encourage me to run this race since your not getting anything out of it because you are running the same block for 3,100 miles for two straight months. You see nothing new or exciting for two months. I also found that the man running in the race got an ingrown toe nail when he had 2,000 miles left in the race. Yes, 2,000 miles is a lot left in the race but yet he has already ran 1,100 and pretty much is half way finished with the race. This in particularly made me very aggravated and I felt bad for this man. An ingrown toe nails are very painful and annoying. If he ran another 2,000 miles with an ingrown toenail, that would be nothing but pain. I understand where he wants to finish the race because he has already made it this far. I found it very discouraging because he has already ran so much of the race and what is the point of running this far if you are not going to finish. I would honestly never find the courage or strength to even start a race that last even longer than ten miles. 3,100 miles seems really far fetch to me and ridiculous. If this story is true I have respect for people who have finished this 3,100 mile race in two months.

Candid Camera
This essay was one of the most boring essays to me. I was first confused because the author starts talking about different cars and which ones he prefers but then he gets into talking about cameras. I did not find anything of this to be interesting in the least. I like to take pictures and I found photography some what interesting but this particular story made me not want to read anymore about cameras. Cameras in the first place are something not a lot of people know a lot of about. It is a topic that most people are not going to find interesting because it is not among of the popular hobbies like cooking or sports. I even got more confused when he started to talk about different types of camera and about his photography in Germany. Then he went on to talk about a camera called Leica in depth and that just made the story so much worse for me. I almost found it to the point that he talked about the camera like it was a human. He made it sound like the Leica was the most important thing to him. I understand that the camera is one of the most important things in photography but the author wrote it more in an obsessive manor. He did not help me enjoy photography more but yet made me think it is more boring than I already did.

6th Post

Tripp Lake
“Where was I? Where was she?” (pg 239).
She was in rehab and I was in Memphis. She was my best friend that I tried to help but failed. I would talk to her mother periodically to see how she was doing while she was in rehab. She was the most upset by this situation. We would write a few times while she was at that place. She was not the same best friend she used to be. She changed and that place changed her even more. I do not know what she was doing or thinking. She did it to herself and now her family and friends are feeling the pain. She keeps hurting herself and everyone who loves her by doing what she keeps doing. She always loved attention even if it was negative attention. She did not and does not care only if it was just attention. I loved and will always love her like a sister. She used to love me but now it is the attention that she loves. Now I am just one of them according to her. I am on of them because I actually went to college and care about my family and friends. I am watching a girl I love waste her life, talents, and intelligence away. She is slowly killing herself. I tried to save her, so did everyone else around her. Now, she is the only one who can save herself. Yet, if she saves herself then the attention is gone. She does not want to lose the attention but she does not realize that no one cares anymore. No one is trying to help her anymore because everyone has tried and she has just pushed them away. Now she is slowly dwindling from everyone’s lives. She still needs help but everyone is tried of being disappointed.

5th Post

Paddy’s Pub is a place where one can go to have more than an interesting time. The owners and workers always keep it entertaining. But, if you are looking for a more formal place and have a more exquisite taste in alcohol this is definitely not the place for you. Paddy’s is a more lay back bar with strictly drinking nothing but hard liquor and beer. Unless you want to get ridicule and made fun of you should stay clear of wine and basically any classy drinks. I would advise one not to go if they get their feelings hurt easily. The workers seem extremely sarcastic and do not hold back what they are thinking even if it is not nice. Also Paddy’s Pub is not what I would call nice. The bathrooms are more disgusting than a gas station. One night at Paddy’s Pub is a night that will never be forgotten.

Cricket Fighting
I found the whole idea of cricket fighting ludicrous and pointless when I first heard the title of the story. My opinion slightly changed after I actually read the essay. I actually found it interesting that people would actually train crickets and spend all that money on a bug. To my surprise there are actual events and places just for cricket fighting and people really do bet on these fights. This story takes place in China with a man who has a translator talking to Mr. Wu who is big into cricket fighting. The translator describes to the man what cricket fighting is and all the requirments and rules to it. Cricket fighting is more popular in Asia than anywhere. Through the story you understand more about how people can actually train crickets to do what they want and sneak around to be able to bet on the actual cricket fights.