ECC's Proud Florida Graduate

I yahoo'ed my name to see what I am famous for just now and I found a bunch of stuff I had already seen before but then I realized something new. My community college in Chicago, Elgin Community College proudly announced through the Daily Herald Joshua Ballantine as their only graduate from out-of-state. See the article here. My address was listed in Florida so I went down in history as ECC's only Florida graduate for 2007.

The ironic thing is that I've never been to my Florida address. The things the system does not see is incredible to me. 

Rock Climbing

Here are some videos of the climbing trip Clint and I took to Banff, Canada.

My New Idol

I get really mad at myself when I read stories like this because I didn't do it.

The world runs like clockwork that is irreversibly historically deterministic. Sometimes I feel like everything is as it is and cannot be changed, that nobody can really be different even though that is our primary goal. A goal which we strive for with our entire consciousness and being. A goal so subtly unattainable. 

Society, man. Society! Society blocks us into demographics and tells us we have the freedom to choose, but they don't mean it. They don't want you to choose, it wants your soul, your will, your FIRE! 

Chaos! 

Noise! 

Errands! 

Responsibilities! 

A-muse-ment! 

Friends! 

Politics! 

Job!

After it all we have arrived nowhere, we have fallen into the clockwork of fatalism, the enemy's gates. 

"Why? Why did I end up this way?" asked the hungry sojourner as he lay in flat surrender at the base of the enemy's gates. 

"Because you fled from pain, you fled from struggle." Answered the enemy. "You grew content, you feared death. You found one piece and kept it, only to be caught up by the beautifully cruel turns of my wheels! 

The sojourner stared into the enemy's eyes and the enemy stared back at him intensely. It was terrifying. In his eyes was the presence of all evil, all wickedness. The greatest fears known to mankind in its conscious state burned like fires in the enemy's eyes, and more fears, still unknown to man, moved inside egg-like shells. The sojourner turned away, not able to bear the depth of the enemy's eyes.

"You wanted everything nice and organized. You feared doubt, destruction and pain. How did you think you could ever conquer me? Am I a man like yourself that you come at me with mere numbers and manpower? Everything you know is powerless against me, it is what you don't know that will kill me." The enemy finished.

The sojourner looked again into the eyes of the enemy only to realize the enemy was not there. The enemy was nothing, emptiness, abyss. The sojourner continued to look and realized the enemy was gone, non-existent, yet still staring right into his eyes.

Courage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pit0zG1vswM

Its hard to watch this new commercial by Nike and not be inspired. I watched a video about advertising recently and they said that when you watch a culture's advertising you are watching a society reflect itself to itself. The companies are trying to sell to their own culture, so they portray how the culture sees themselves or how they want to be seen.

As Nike flashed up the athletes during the commercial they only flash up their own athletes they have sponsored throughout its history and quotes that they have come up with within their own company. I tried to find special techniques that they used to make this commercial so appealing and successful, but the more I tried the more I realized they used the best of themselves and advertised that. It is something about not following the market but rather influencing the market. That is what people are drawn to. That is what makes people want to be involved. 

The commercial glorifies those that have fought through trials. Those who have endured. That is what a global advertising commercial such as Nike's courage commercial is trying to portray to the people watching. That is what the people watching think of themselves or think they would like to become.

K2 Deaths

CNN reported that 11 people were just killed on Pakistan's K2-the second biggest mountain in the world- when their rope snapped. 

The climbers who died were Dutch, Irish, Italian, French, Norwegian, Korean, and Nepalese citizens. People from all over the world coming to this one place to challenge themselves. Sometimes it seems so stupid that we put ourselves in dangerous positions, that we risk our lives to say that we have accomplished something. Yet accomplishment and challenge touches something deep within us. 

These climbers tested themselves until their deaths, but what if they had never went on the trip? What if they never would have taken the risk? Would they be happier people? 

The mortal son of a god from The Iliad, Achilles, faced a similar decision. He was forced to decide whether to die in glory early or lead a happy, lengthy life to create a family. He eventually decided to take the glory.  What is it within the human spirit that desires to prove him or herself untouchable? Immortal?

I just got back from a rock climbing trip, not quite as intense as the K2 climbers yet challenging nonetheless. I found myself full of lust for the next battle, the next cliff to conquer. I failed many climbs but that only made me want it more. I was challenging my greatest challenger throughout those climbs, myself. I am not ready for K2, yet something in me desires some challenge, some risk like those climbers about which I read on CNN.