This Has Taken a Long Time

Roughly 20 years ago my education began.

Pre-School: I learned to be horrified of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.
Kindergarten: I learned the alphabet from The Letter People, and the importance of naps.
1st Grade: I officially became "okay" at reading.
2nd Grade: I had my first experience of walking/riding bike to school every day.
3rd Grade: I learned how to walk to school in 3 feet of snow.
4th Grade: I finally knew what it felt like to break a bone.
5th Grade: I officially began really appreciating how awesome it was to live so close to all the historical sites in Boston.
6th Grade: I learned about barrier islands in Georgia and how trips are the best way for people to grow closer together.
7th Grade: I learned about AOL instant messenger and found a social outlet through it.
8th Grade: I learned how to say goodbye to good friends, and how much fun Algebra was.
9th Grade: I learned how crazy it is going to a school with over 2000 people.
10th Grade: I don't remember 10th grade. At least I don't think I do.
11th Grade: I finally decided to learn how to drive, and discovered that I really liked editing videos.
12th Grade: I learned to find minimal enjoyment out of High School, and became obsessed with politics.
Freshmen Year: I learned how awesome roommates are and the importance of getting involved in things early.
Sophomore Year: I learned that I hated Computer Engineering, and that I apparently had more extroverted tendencies than I originally thought.
Junior Year: I began seeing God's vision for my life while also learning what it felt to have my jaw wired shut for 3 weeks.
Second Junior Year: I learned first hand about living in Asia and really got a huge global perspective on life.
Senior Year: I gained experience in Industrial Engineering by working with a real manufacturing company, and I learned the importance of working with other students to study, do homework, and do projects. Finally, I learned what I wanted to do after graduating!

In just 2 days, I'll be done with the last exam of my undergraduate career. 83% of my life has been spent in school. "Next" has already started, and though my education is possibly over, I see a lot more learning in my future! Let's get this fun stuff started!

Origins

I've had an online journal since about 10th grade. Actually, let's see, since Friday, April 11, 2003. So second semester of 10th grade. The journal actually still exists (http://www.xanga.com/breadman86), but read it at your own discretion. I probably shouldn't have advertised it just now... you'll get to see how crazy I really am, or have been in the past! I had various websites between about 7th grade (when I discovered the beauties/atrocities of this great internet) and 11th or 12th grade that I updated with posts/opinions, but they are all gone now. I got tired of paying for hosting. Too bad. Plus, the sites didn't scale so well as new browsers came out.

I ended up switching to blogger a few weeks ago after I realized I had more than 1 friend using it, found it to look better, and be overall less messy than what xanga has become. Also, xanga doesn't auto-publish to facebook like it used to for some reason, while blogger does. Nice. Since the big switch, I've been updating more than in the past.

Okay, so what is this place? Why do I have it? What's with the name and the quote at the top? Why should I bother reading anything you have to say? Why do you keep calling it a journal and not a blog?

One at a time! So many questions!

First. . . it's just a place I come to type. That's also the answer to the second question. I'm a slower hand-writer, and I have atrocious handwriting. This is quicker. I can type almost as fast as I can think (yeah, I'm fast, and I'm not humble). Also, I feel that writing is a good way to clear the mind. Sometimes something is bugging me like mad and I have no one to talk to about it, so I'll vent in a journal. I'll write opinions, annoyances, what I did that day, really just whatever I feel like writing.

Now, the third question. The name, "A Hurricane Through Me," comes from a song by Third Eye Blind called "Wake for Young Souls." It's on the playlist to the right if you care to listen. I chose it because I just like the line, "Let the truth blow like a hurricane through me." Really, there's nothing else special about it. I'd just like to think that my mouth/mind/fingers aren't spouting lies all the time. I'd like to think that what I say is true, whether it's spiritually true, whether I'm speaking honestly about myself, whether my opinions are based off of fact, etc. I try not to hide behind lies, try being the key word. The quote at the top comes from "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby" by Counting Crows. It's also on the playlist. I put it up there because I like the line - sure, I believe in shooting for the stars, following dreams, etc, but sometimes it's humbling to look up at a starry night sky and realize how small we really are. It makes doing big things on this Earth seem like less of an impossibility.

Why should you read this? I don't know. If you're a nosy person I suppose you should. If you're a friend who just wants to know what's going on you might want to. Or you can be one of those people that just reads one interesting thing and never comes back. I don't suppose I really care. I didn't make this for other people (for the most part). I made it for me. It's a load off my mind. But it's also here for other people and I'm definitely not opposed to people coming, reading, commenting.

And finally, I call it a journal and not a blog because I hate that word, "blog." It's awful. It sounds like some sort of green-goo prank that gets played on adults on Nick Jr (Hah! She got blogged!). They are journals. Online journals. Public, online journals. POJ. I just made that up, how... not really creative.

I suppose that's all.

Oh, and if this gets published to facebook and you're like, "what the heck, I don't see a playlist on the right," it's because you're not actually at the journal. To get there, go to http://hurricanethroughme.blogspot.com/ . Yep.

That is all.