Zombies. On a Microscopic Scale.

I know it's been a while since my last post. School and work seems to have gotten the best of me again. But I've returned, with something that just might freak you out.

I have a family member that currently live in Columbia. He's an amazing scholar and is always on top of current events you probably aren't aware of. Well, he's my source for new things. I don't even watch the evening news, because it just try's to bum you out. His interests me and actually makes me want to research related things myself.

One of his most recent posts is about a fungus that scientists have discovered in a Brazilian jungle close to the Atlantic Ocean. This fungus has adapted to make feeding easy for it's colony. And the way it does it, is actually, mind control. It's just pure amazing. The fungus attacks an ant near death and turns it into, well, a zombie. It brings it back to the colony of fungus and orders the ant to use the rest of its life span to clamp down onto a branch in order to stay in place. The fungus then feeds on the ant but avoids certain organs and muscles in order to make sure the ant's jaws stay clamped.

Now, when I read this. I didn't quite believe. So I did some digging of my own on it and there is actually thousands of strands of fungus and spores that act just like this one does. Some are on plants to act as a sort of defense system, and one strand of it is actually found in the goop that a snail leaves behind as it moves. Crazy. Straight crazy. Here is an example of what the ant looks like as it is being controlled at the last few seconds before death. (Source: National Geographic)

This is an example of what happens once the ants are infected with the spore or fungus.



So if you're interested in this as I was, just google it, you'll be amazed at how much you can find on it. There is videos on it, research sites, and other bloggers like myself talking about it. I found this extremely amazing and I hope you did too.

The Interview

The past few days have been pretty slow in my life. Not per-say dull, just slow. I've been working constantly and actually starting to get work done. It's all coming together now it feels like. I'm all set for college money and I'm all set for living arrangements. Great! Now it's just a matter of saving up as much as I can until then. It'll be an uphill battle with that.


But that isn't the main point of today's post. It's interviews. The other day in my Senior English class, we had a guest speaker. I don't remember his name, or even much of what he talked about. But I do know that he scared me about future interviews. I've done multiple leadership boards for ROTC so I can handle the pressure and all of the impromptu stuff. I just don't understand how to actually remember how to properly act, sit, talk, motion, and all of that jazz. I can sit proper, but with my personality I talk with my hands. Well I guess that doesn't fly in an interview.

Anyway, today we were all put up for mock interviews. This is going to be spanned over the next two days, but I decided it best to get over with it. It went well I thought, I got my points across, keep my composure, kept the nervous movements to a minimum and didn't say um. I thought I did good, until she showed me the sheet. It was just a bunch of marks that said, hand movements, hand movements, hand movements. Dammit....Well, I should have know it would've happened, but there's nothing I can do now.

Now I'm on a mission, to perfect this interview business. But I can't do it alone. I know you all are the working type. Even if you're not, hear me out. I need some suggestions, little tips and pointers to get me the "dream" job, or the "just for some cash" job. Which ever comes first. In the end, I'm just some kid looking for a little bit more wisdom. So hear me out.

I also had this song stuck in my head through the whole interview.

A Rhythm to Match Your Own

Music. One of the greatest things on the face of this planet. And in space, Astronauts need to jam out too. It gets me up in the morning, and it puts me to bed at night. I always have a tune going or else I'm tapping on the nearest item to get a rhythm out of my head or into someones head.

I'm constantly thinking about music, if I had to pick an addiction it would be a musical one. Actually, it already is. But that's' totally beside the point. I use music to get me motivated and to keep me going. Even now as I'm typing this I'm tapping my foot to the beat of the song.

I'm a big "action" sports guy. Even though when I do it there's not much action. Just a kid trying to have fun with what he knows. Whether I'm out on my BMX bike or I'm pushing down back alleys on my skateboard, I've got music playing in my ear. Just the way a song sounds can effect how I ride. Something heavy, I go for something hard. Something smooth and mellow, you can expect the same out of me. Keeps my riding style interesting. You see big action sports heroes and after a while all of their riding looks the same. For me, one day I can be all about jumping off that ledge and the next it can be "I just wanna ride". Give it one good push and coast to a good song. If I don't have a song, I don't have motivation. It's a vicious cycle. But songs like this are what motivate me to have fun.

But then again, I can be trying to do a trick, and suddenly the rage all comes out. I can't think, I can't ride, and I can't say enough cuss words to get my point across that I'm pissed. That's when having a big taste in music helps. I used to be a one track mind with music. Mainstream rock, nothing else. Now, you're lucky to find one or two of those songs on my Zune. I have everything from music so off the radar that no one you know has heard of it to music that you hear almost everyday. But when the riding gets rough, so does the music. Check it out.

Now I'm probably breaking a ton of copyrights laws for this blog by posting these few songs, but that's fine by me. I don't expect much out of this all and I'm just having fun. I'm always looking to find a new band or hear a new song from an artist I already. So if it's not too much to ask for, lay me out a suggestion. Whether it's in the comments or dropping me an email. Well now that you've gotten some music for the day, have a good one. And let your tunes be loud and proud.

Misery, That Tingling Feeling Inside.

So, as a senior in high school, I don't have much of a "career". Instead, I have two jobs that both involve dealing with some 'amazing' people. When I say amazing, I use the term loosely. Extremely. I don't take my jobs very seriously. Why should I though, I'm in high school. It's not like I'm going to be stuck in this little town for the rest of my life. You can say "You never know!" but if anything happens that I can't leave here. I'll find a way. When in doubt military it out. I'm not trying to start a controversy here by saying the military is bad or anything. I'm enrolled in an ROTC program and I have an extreme amount of respect for every single person in the military service.

I suppose I got a little off track there from my real story. But where I was going with that before was, I don't need to act 115% professional in the work place. I'm a cashier. Not a big deal. It seems like every now and then though. I manage to run into one person that is so insulted by the way they receive there orders or drinks or what ever it is they're getting that they need to make me as miserable as them. Example: At work Saturday, a man requests that he gets a drink holder because he only had one free hand. I tell him let me check if we have any. Go in the back, look. Nothing. Go to my manager, ask. Nothing. So I go back the guy and tell him "I'm sorry sir, but we don't have any right now" Well....he didn't like that too much. He demanded to see my manager and yelled at my manager for the level of "unprofessional" that I had displayed. I'm not too sure what was unprofessional about not having cup holders. But apparently it was

This little encounter lead to my manager telling me to go to the storage room and get more. The look on the customers face told me that he was one sad puppy. I really don't understand how someone can be so miserable about something so little. I offered to hold his drinks until he came back but that wasn't good enough. What drives people to make their misery another persons misery too is beyond me. I don't know a single thing about the man, but he knows enough about me to judge that I'm not worthy of maintaining a good mood for the rest of the day.

Now from you all reading this (or not and pretending to be doing something important), I want to know. Do you have the same problem? Or do you enjoy being the one to ruin the others day. I hear it has quite the satisfying tingling sensation.


A little song to brighten your day if it hasn't been the greatest. I know mine hasn't.

Luck of the Draw

The past few days have been....I don't really even know. I'll put it this way. If you got put in a raffle, and winning the raffle meant you get cursed for the rest of your life. Thats how I feel right now. I won that raffle. I feel like saying W00T! But I'm pretty sure thats not appropriate right now.

I've been working on my car for a few days now, and I was just about to finish this whole mess. I was about 20 minutes away from total completion, when, thanks to my luck, and the luck of the weather patterns in the Upper Peninsula. All of the schools in the local area got shut down. Included the one I was in working on my car. So, I get kicked out, into -15 degree weather. And have to find a way to get home. It was the best 20 minute wait of my life. So this whole weekend I've been car-less. I don't know if any of you have a job. But trying to get to work with no car. Not the easiest.

But then again today. I see this this girl I know, and I tried to talk to her. Instead, she just sorta threw a look at me and walked away. Thats a good ego boost. So the rest of the day was pretty dull. Soon after I'm out to dinner with family, and my dad decided to get wasted. Well, when this guy gets drunk, he acts more immature then those little junior high girls that act like tuff stuff all the time. Trying to get home when you have a 50 year old man acting like he's 12 isn't the best. But it's what I deal with.

I know none of this may appeal to you. But I just had to blab that little bit out. And I'm semi-curious. Is anyone else having as much luck as me lately?

I've also had this song stuck in my head for hours thanks to some of the people I work with. Good song, good band. It isn't much in the way of lyrics, pretty repetitive but something about the rhythm of not just this song, but of a lot of them keeps me coming back for more. Tegan and Sara-Walking With a Ghost.

A Wordly Revelation

I'm currently sitting in my 7th period online course and my teacher is breathing down my neck. I'm getting the constant nag of "do your work!" but something in me says that can wait. But she's usually not like this. Which makes me think that she had a bad day. And I suppose that happens a lot around here. The students aren't exactly angels. Most of the the students can't stand her. But I've never understood why.

I thought about this some more and I realized it's because she's different. She's trying to change our ways of "we do what we want" which has been the senior classes unofficial motto. Just because we're so used to the same old thing every year we can't come to handle something new in our lives. It's strange to me, why would we act hostile? Maybe I'm just over thinking this to much, or maybe I'm really onto something. She lives a totally different life style than we do. Coming from India I guess that's to be expected, but in this small town, something "new" is just....weird.

My mind soon wandered from this topic as another the song changes on my Zune. And soon my mind is rolling with rhymes and rhythms that I'm constantly tapping out in class. So with the conclusion of my class I'll conclude my rambling for the day with a song. Check it out.

An Introduction of Sorts

So, I don't expect many people to follow and I don't even expect it to amount to much. But when you live in the same old routine that I do, you force yourself to try something new. And for me, this is that something new. While sitting in the basement of my friends house I began my senseless ranting that shall be know as my blog. Welcome, to the senseless ranting of my life.