Toy pianos steel drums

Plucks and strums on the downbeats

Peace, love and good vibes.

This is a haiku that I wrote about my reggae, my favorite genre of music. Growing up in Hawaii, everybody listened to reggae music. We’d listen to it in the car, at parties, at the beach and everywhere else. Now that I’m in Texas, there aren’t nearly as many reggae fans, but I still listen to it as it reminds me of where I came from and who I am.

I recently started playing a video game called Mount and Blade: Warband. It’s a medieval warfare simulation RPG. So far, I’ve created a character named “Jonathan Elvington.” He’s named after two of my friends. I chose my background to be the son of a veteran warrior and a former squire. I then became a mercenary for the Sarranid Sultanate, which is supposed to represent a middle eastern kingdom. So far, I’ve worked my way up to becoming a vassal of the sultan and was given a town. I’ve won many battles but have still yet to become ruler of anything but the small town.

The game is very immersive and allows me to express my creativity through many role playing options. I’ve chosen to be a questionable warlord who is loyal to his faction but commits dishonorable actions towards enemies, such as burning and looting towns and attacking caravans. I haven’t been this engaged with a game for a long time, and I’m excited to see how it plays out.

I woke up at twelve

and didn’t do shit today

except this haiku

I’m currently a sophomore financial consulting major here at SMU. This summer, I’ll be interning at PwC in Dallas and it should result in a return offer for next summer and a full-time job once I graduate. I hope to place into one of their strategy or financial consulting groups. I’m also preparing for the alts selection process at the end of the semester, and if I get in I will probably pursue a career in finance.

However, if I could do anything, I would be a marine biologist in Hawaii. I would want to focus on restoring the fisheries around the island and repopulating the reefs and nearshore fish population. Unfortunately, I don’t have the courage to leave my current path and try to pursue what I actually want to do. I guess I just like the stable income and structure of the careers that I’m pursuing at SMU. Maybe I’ll change careers in the future if/when I get sick of the corporate lifestyle.

Here’s a circle poem that begins and ends with the word “Spartan.” I chose that word because my friend is playing the newest Assassins creed game, which is based in Ancient Greece and heavily involves Spartan warriors.

Spartan – Spear – Throw – Baseball – Bat – Cave – Dark – Scary – Monster – Energy – Enron – Scandal – News – Article – Clothing – Pants – Legs – Run – Fast – Starve – Stomach – Organ – Church – Bible – Study – Exam – Prostate – Finger – Nail – Hammer – Strike – Match – Boxing – Fight – Battle – Warrior – Spartan

For my creative writing class, I had to write a short story. My original idea for the story was to follow an NFL team through the playoffs, but in a universe where the NFL doesn’t drug test and players are allowed to use PED’s as much as they please, especially steroids and stimulants such as amphetamines, meth and cocaine. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time and wasn’t able to follow through with this idea. So, I’d like to use my blog to describe what I think the NFL would look like without drug testing.

First of all, I think that the players of all positions would be much larger on average due to steroids. Based on a few articles about the effects of steroids on muscle gain, I’d estimate that players could be around 20-30 pounds heavier across all positions. They could probably get even larger than that, but at some point the extra weight would compromise their speed and quickness. Some types of steroids could also help to strengthen athletes leg muscles and fast-twitch fibers, allowing them to accelerate faster to ridiculous top speeds, jump higher and generally be more explosive. The steroids and other hormones would also help player’s to recover more quickly between games and from injuries, as well as play at a more consistent level.

Secondly, if players were to use the optimal amount of stimulants at which they’d maximize their performance, they would be much more aggressive and aware. A prime example of this is the legendary Giants linebacker, Lawrence Taylor. He is often revered as one of the most dominant, feared and savage defenders to ever play the game. Unsurprisingly, he had a severe cocaine addiction and would use it to improve his football performance. If every player used stimulants, defenders would hit harder, linemen would push with more force, running backs would find the holes quicker and break more tackles. Additionally, receivers would drop the ball less, and quarterbacks would make faster reads and release the ball more quickly and accurately.

While the benefits of drugs would make the game more exciting, there would also be a few drawbacks. Players would not have as much stamina as they would exert much more energy with stimulants, so they’d most likely have to rotate out every few plays. The drugs would also take a huge toll on their bodies, so their careers would not last as long, and the extra aggression and fearlessness would cause many more injuries. Since PED’s help athletes to surpass their natural abilities, most players would be similar in performance so it’d be hard to stand out and their would be less big plays.

In general, if NFL stopped drug testing and every player started using PED’s, the plays themselves would be filled with more action, but the closeness in ability would make it hard for individual players to make big plays, so much more of the game would depend on coaching strategy. It would also make the franchise and contract system much more complicated, as players would have a much higher turnover rate and we likely wouldn’t have the same story lines that we do surrounding teams and players like we do now. It’s an interesting idea to think about, but I believe that it’s best to keep our athletes as natural as possible and we should celebrate the natural abilities of the human body.

I found “Embrace the Shake” to be inspiring because I’ve always felt limited by my physical abilities when it comes to art, especially when trying to create art by hand. I have a difficult time drawing, because although I can have a clear image of what I want to draw in my head, I can never seem to actually recreate the image on paper. I can never draw lines the way I want to, as my hands can’t seem to follow my eyes. If I’m trying to draw a horizontal line straight across page, it will often slant down at steep angle or curve up and down before I get to the other side. I think it has something to do with my fine motor control.

I think that from now on I will try to use my lack of precision when drawing and writing as a source of creativity, but it will take me a while to find out how to do so.

This is a picture I took at the Dallas Aquarium in the October 2017. I visited the aquarium for an English assignment. Sharks have always been my favorite animal, and growing up in Hawaii, I learned a lot about marine life and the sharks of the pacific ocean.

The sharks in this photograph are a species similar to saw sharks and are found around South America. It’s been a while since the visit so I don’t the exact details. I like this picture because although shark’s may look scary from other angles, from their underside it looks like they have cartoon faces. I like to think that the shark in the front has an angry expression and that the one in the back is confused.

My name is Aaron and I’m from Honolulu, Hawaii. Here is a picture of me that I took for my high school graduation!