Golf

            Golf is a sport that I really love to play.  I used to hate it when I was younger.  My dad would watch golf on the television and I would usually die of boredom.  I thought it lacked in action and was too laid back.  Now, these are the reasons who I love golf so much.

            Golf is the most relaxing sport there is.  You go out there and forget about all your worries and just hit some golf balls.  The golf courses are always very nice.  The scenery is very peaceful.  Not to mention you get to ride around in golf carts throughout the game. 

            Golf is underrated.  People seem to compare it to other sports like football and hockey, but they shouldn’t.  It is completely different.  It is a totally different experience. 

New Versus Old

            I am not that crazy about new video games.  Even though they have amazing graphics and are extremely realistic, I find myself getting bored with them easily.  They seem to lack something that interests me in video games.  I grew up in the 90’s, so I played a lot of Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, and other games of that nature. 

            I had a thought recently that maybe I am just growing up, and that video games just don’t interest me anymore.  That would explain why I am not interested in the newer stuff.  Not because it is not as good as the older video games, but because I have simply grown up.  This is false.  My friend recently set up my Xbox so that I can play thousands of older games for free.  I have been playing them nonstop for a week. 

            The conclusion is I am not growing up.  I just love the old school video games so much more than the newer ones.

Free Ticket

            A couple months ago, I went to a concert at the SLUE campus.  A really good band was playing there called Vampire Weekend.  I have always been a fan of their music, but did not know they were playing in my area till about a week prior to the show. 

            My brother called me up and told me he got two free tickets to see Vampire Weekend and he wanted to take me.   I was very excited until I heard the day it was on.  That very day I told a fellow co-worker that I would work for him the day of the concert.  I was in a pickle.  I really wanted to see Vampire Weekend, but I also didn’t want to come off as a jerk and tell my co-worker I couldn’t work for him. 

            I eventually gave up hope on the concert and decided that I would follow through with what I promised my co-worker.  That was until I got a phone call from another co-worker of mine.  She said she was desperate for more hours and would be grateful if I gave her some of mine.  Obviously, I was overjoyed and gave her the hours that would have taken away a free ticket and a great time.

            This was a very fortunate occurrence for me.  The band was phenomenal and I had a wonderful time. 

The Gym

            I have recently found out that my mom has signed the family up for a membership to the local gym for about a year now.  Apparently, she forgot to tell me about this, so I have not been going.  When I found out, I was excited and a little angry that I wasn’t informed of this a year ago, but I soon got over it.  

            Now that I had incentive to go to the gym, I tried to go a lot.  I soon began to go less and less due to the weight of school and work.  Hopefully during the summer, I will be less swamped and more willing to go work out.

Skateboarding

          When I was in middle school and early high school, I used to skateboard religiously.  Every day my friends and I would go to the local skate park and skate for hours until we grew tired.   Skateboarding was a huge part of my childhood.  I used to feel a rush every time I got on the board.  I eventually grew out of that phase, up until a couple of weeks ago.

            I have recently been getting back in my roots of skateboarding.  I have been skating with a few of my old buddies I used to skate with. It is like we never gave it up.  Although, I am not nearly as good as I used to be, I still have a great time just hanging out with my old friends and trying to re-master old tricks I used to do.

Road Trip

           I plan on having a great time this summer.  A couple of friend and I have been planning a trip to California.  I have been saving up for a long time and this summer is going to be the year we go.  My friend has some family in California so we won’t have to pay for a hotel which is going to help greatly. 

            We are going to drive there and everyone will pitch in on gas and food.  This is going to be really great for a couple of us because a lot of us have never left more than 4 states.  This will give us the chance and the experience to visit a lot of interesting areas throughout the United States.   We are all really excited about it.

Aging With A Series

One of my favorite books I used to read were the Harry Potter books.  I remember thinking it was the best thing ever.  The thing I have found interesting about the Harry Potter series is that it ages with the people that read it or watch the movies.  The first couple books were about Harry potter when he was about 11 or 12 years old and it ends with him being around 17.  

    In the beginning, it was relevant to a younger audience.  There wasn’t much violence and the endings felt more joyful and happy.  The story line was pretty basic too.  Harry goes to his wizard school and finds out that people are up to no good, so he takes it upon himself to solve the problem.  The result usually ends with harry stopping the plan, but not ultimately stopping the person behind the plan.

In the later books, The story definitely got darker and more interesting.  There was way more violence and death. The characters began to develope and there was a sense of disaster and dismay. It seemed more real, even though it’s a story about magic.  

The thing that I admire about these books/movies is that many people never out-grew it.  The story increases in age just as the readers do.  

Britsh/US Office

One of my favorite shows of all time is the office.  I've watched it ever since the first season.  It's a very witty and funny show staring Steve Carell, Rain Wilson, and Jenna Fisher.  There was a British Office staring Ricky Gervais that was, in my opinion, just as good.  

The two shows are similar in a lot of ways.  They both consist of a clueless boss that thinks he is the greatest and is the regional manager of a paper company.  The two shows also have other characters that share similar attributes.  It has a similar story in which the receptionist and a salesman obviously have feelings for each other, but the receptionist has a fiance.  Throughout the show they both never seem to get the timing right.  The shows also share an ignorant character that is excessively confident in himself, but is obviously an idiot.

There are also many differences too.  The name and places are different.  The British Office, although highly critically acclaimed, only aired for two seasons, consisting of 6 episodes for each season.  The US Office is currently on it's 7th season consisting of roughly 20 episodes a season. Lastly, in the British Office the main boss gets fired, while in the American Office the main boss quits due to personal issues.  

All in all, the main concept of the shows are very similar, but are obviously two different shows in the overall story and character development.  

My Top 5 Favorite Movies

    I have always considered myself a movie-buff.  I work at a movie theatre so I get to watch movies for free all the time.  Today I’m going to discuss my top 5 favorite movies.

5) Donnie Darko.  Donnie Darko is a gripping psychological thriller that came out in 2001 and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, and Patrick Swayze.  It is basically about this kid named Donnie who seeks the meanings and significants though his obscure visions.  This movie is very complex and is one of those movies you have to see more than once to actually understand it entirely. I’ve watched it numerous times and still find things that I haven’t picked up on before.  

4)  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  This movie has a great story and has a lot of interesting and unsuspecting twists.  It stars Jim Carry and is basically about this guy who wants to forget about his ex-girlfriend so he has his memory wiped clean of her.  The movie explores his memory and the way he thinks in a very interesting and surreal manner.

3)  Home Alone.  This movie is one of my favorite movies because it is just so nostalgic.  It’s a great film and was my favorite movie since i was able to watch TV.

2)  American History X.  This movie is really smart and actually really hard to watch at times, but nonetheless is an extremely good film and conveys good messages.  It is about a neo-nazi that goes to jail for voluntarily killing two African Americans.  In jail, he actually befriends an African American and he realizes that what he did was wrong and tries to change things.  

1)  Pulp Fiction.  This is my all time favorite movie.  it is directed by Quintin Tarantino and stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, and Uma Thurman.  This movie has the best dialogue i have ever seen in a film.  It is very rich and has a way of ironically mixing humor and violence together making it very funny and interesting.  It also has a non-linear storyline and is highly stylized.  A must see for any fan of great films.

Indie/folk rock

Recently, I have been getting into more of an indie/folk rock phase of music.  I do like a lot of different genres of music, but as of late I have been consistent in a specific genre that has recently caught my eye.  This genre consists of a fantastic melodic sensibility and a diverse arrangement of many different instruments.  Consistency is not a key attribute for this genre because a lot of their songs sound different from the next. Another attribute that most of these bands share are deep and meaningful lyrics that are very relatable.
Mumford and Sons falls into this category.  They are gaining a lot of commercial success and they actually played at the Grammy’s.  They have a very interesting sound that is very light-hearted.  they come from England and play many unusual instruments for a rock group that include the stand-up bass, trumpet, banjo, mandolin, and a few others.  Another great musician is a man called Ryan Adams.  He is probably most famous for is terrific cover of Oasis's Wonderwall. He has a fantastic melodic sensibility and is very diverse in his music ranging from hard rock, to pop, to country, and so on.
Indie/Folk is a very interesting genre that is gaining a lot of fans as of late and I am definitely one of them.  I think this is great news because the majority of popular music today is very simple and catchy and lacks deeper meaning and complexity.  Indie/folk rock may just prove that stereotype to be wrong.

"The rocks in the water don't know how the rocks in the sun feel." -Haitian Proverb

The quote "The rocks in the water don't know how the rocks in the sun feel" is a great way to express how we could never fully understand what it is like to be another person if we simply judge them with no evidence of their past.  The "rocks in the water" would never know how the  "rocks in the sun" feel because they come from completely different places.  When confronting somebody new, it is natural to judge the person by their appearance or the way they act.  But why is that?  We don't know anything about them, yet we seem to generalize who this person is by first impressions.  In order to truely judge someone, one would have to know everything about the person.  They would have to look deeper than their outside appearances and really take time to understand where they are coming from.
This quote does a great job of depicting how two people, coming from different worlds, can be vastly different due to their environment and how they were raised.  My friend Manuel and I are a perfect example of this.  Manuel lived in Mexico for most of his life and moved here about two years ago.  Because he was different from everybody else, it was really hard for him to make friends at school.  I, at first, thought he was a little strange but as I got to know him and understand where he was coming from, it became easier to figure him out as a whole and we eventually became very good friends.
A similar quote to this is "You can never truely understand someone untill you walk in their shoes.".  It focuses on the same issue of coming from different worlds and never really understanding what a person is all about untill you take time to fully understand them.  There is a lot of misunderstanding in this world, and these quotes do a great job of trying to fix those problems.  If everybody lived by these quotes, the world would surely be a better place. 
    

I Am From...

I am from Doug and Debborah, Owen and Donna, and Adele and Paul
From St. Louis and from the open waters of Silver.
from the freezing winters and hot summers.
I am from deer hunters, and fish catchers.
I am from corn flake chicken and homemade vegetable soup.
I am from light-heartedness, humor, and generosity
I am from "inside or out", "ask your father", and "When i was younger..."
I am from the long, boring Catholic masses, eating the bread, and drinking the wine.
From teachers, acountants, writers, and singers.
From Black Label skateboards and Pokemon cards
From Super Nintento, Sega, and Xbox.
I am from Weiner dogs and chihuahuas.
I am from finding myself through music.
From not knowing if i should say something, but saying it anyway.
I am from not regrets.

My Review of The King's Speech

                My Weekend was pretty good.  My friend and I went and saw The King’s Speech.  The movie is basically about this guy that is next in line to be the king of England, who suffers from a speech impediment.  The job of being King entails him to have to speak publically so he has to undergo therapy in order to control his stammer.   The whole movie is based around the relationship between the future king and his therapist.  It is rated R purely based on the language.   The film is an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee and Colin Firth, King George the 6^th, won a Golden Globe for best actor in a motion picture.  Although at times I thought the movie was kind of boring, I personally thought the movie was really good and very well acted.

                What this movie lacks in action and violence, it makes up for it in the extremely believable acting.  Colin Firth’s take on King George the 6^th is so convincing and really grabs your attention.   I would not recommend taking young children or people with short attention spans to see this movie.  This movie is definitely for mature teenagers or adults not because of the R rating, but because of the seriousness and sincerity of it.  Overall, it was very enjoyable and I am glad I saw it.   

Who Is Eric Arney?

My name is Eric Arney. I am 19 years old and I live in Highland Illinois.  I grew up in St. Louis up until I was about 11 when my family moved to Highland.  I went to Triad High School and graduated in 2010.  I am currentely going to SWIC and I'm going to pursue something in the business field. 

             Hobbies of mine include biking, running, music, movies and playing many musical instruments including guitar, banjo, ukulele, and mandolin.  Music has always been a huge part of my life.  Ever since I can remember I was hooked to it.  I like a lot of different styles of music but if I had to pin-point a specific genre of music that a prefer over the others it would probably be  indie/folk rock. I am a huge fan of the Beatles. In fact, they were probably the band that had the biggest effect on me.  The great diversity in their music and the chemisty and undertanding that the members had with each other just drew me in.  George Harrison not only made me want to pick up the guitar, but he also made me want to learn more instruments due to the fact that he was talented in many stringed instuments.

            I like to meet new people, so if you want to comment or message me that is encouraged. Thanks!