Stevehurl88

Since middle school I have had facial hair grow. Since middle school, I have also kept it shaved off. I've been known to let it grow out of laziness. But I've never let it grow to be too long. Recently though, I was challenged by a friend to grow it. He tried to make it sound like we have to grow a mustache, but we don't. I decided to grow out my facial hair just to see what happens, and how it looks. I'm not fond of stroking my neck and getting the course stubble feel. I also am  not a fan of neck beards, so I decided to shave that part off. It was pretty thin. Before I shaved though, I decided to record the moment for comparison by taking some quick photographs before I trimmed it. So below are the before and after. I've never shaved a beard for the sake of trimming it, I've always just shaved it off. I didn't know where to stop, I thought about the chin line between chin and throat, but I didn't know how that would work. Tell me what you think. 

The shots didn't come out very good, sadly the ones without glasses were more crisp than the ones without. 

Tell me what you think though, soon I'll have to decide whether to lose it or not. It feels a little more maintained with the trim. 

The following is sort of a follow up to the previous blog. I wrote the essay for class, we'll see what the teacher thinks of it. Leave me your comments. 

For many years, I have struggled with my stubbornness. I make a decision and disregard reasoning that tells me I shouldn’t do it and I refuse to change my mind about it. For example, even though I don’t have money to spend on anything aside from need, I have the impulse to go eat out when I go to my hometown in Tulsa. I know I should be more conservative of my money, but I’m rather spoiled and need to feed my hunger for high quality food. Another example, I’m working for a job I like but it’s going nowhere. Logic tells me to leave the job, but I’m stubborn and do not want to quit the job because I’m afraid of facing change. Stubbornness has put me in a couple of bad situations. However, not all of my stubbornness leaves me astray. In fact, one thing I refuse to ever regret would be a result of my stubbornness: my dog.

            During a time when I was in-between jobs, which also happens to be a time when I was probably a bit depressed because of the no job thing, I developed this thought that I need a dog. Or perhaps I should say I needed a different dog. My dog at the time was crippled and liked to destroy my things. So I wanted a dog that could run, play, and didn’t mutilate my blankets. I start talking with my sister in law about adopting a new dog, and she just so happened to know of ‘the perfect dog for me’. It was a dog from Animal Aid, a rescue organization that rescues sick and injured dogs and then nurses them back to health. ‘The perfect dog for me’ happened to be a misfit that was so hyper from being cooped up in the kennel that nobody could see how ‘special’ she was. I, being a sucker for dogs in need, immediately went to see the dog and met her, Tahlulah, the perfect dog for me. She was, at best, a complete mess. She was so high-strung and hyper and happy to be out of the kennel, Tahlulah was choking herself from tugging against the leash. The perfect dog for me. Admittedly, I am huge sucker for dogs, and I would say I was pretty impulsive at that moment as I disregarded all the good reasons not to adopt a new dog, and took home a disaster of a dog.  

Many things go through my head now as to what I should have been considering. One being, why do I want such a crazy dog? Two being, where do I think I am going to keep her? Three being, how am I going to go to college with a dog? Four, is she house trained? A house full of brand new un-urinated on carpet has her to thank for the recent remodeling.

The first night she stayed with me, Tahlulah and I had spent several minutes outside together. Then as soon as I got her to my room, she decided it was time to go to the bathroom on my carpet. This was an act she repeated on many occasions. Never in my mind did the thought come up, I need to get rid of this dog. Being stubborn and feeling a great responsibility for her, I decided it was time to move out of my parents house. Which I did, with the help and funding from my parents. Fortunately for me and my next living space, she was able to adjust to living inside and became a great dog. Almost everything worked out. My final issue with her would be how do I go to college and own a dog. A challenge I tried to avoid for nearly two years. Finally, with complete and utter support from my parents, we faced the problem together. I avoided going to college because I didn’t want to go to college and leave my dog behind. So my parents and I found a house Tahlulah and I could live in together, something I really wanted. A want, but by no means a need.

My stubbornness is rooted into what I want. Wanting things is not the problem. The problem is when I disregard what means I have to make things happen and the limits to my means. In a way, my parents feed the problem by providing the means and not cutting that second source of income. It’s a lot easier to want things and get them if you are used to having your wishes met. My stubbornness, while rooted in my best intentions and wants can lead me into some poor choices; although, with some help they can also lead me to things that are good for me. Such as living off campus, with my dog and a good friend, in a house I can call my own. 

I currently live in Tahlequah, Oklahoma with my dog Tallulah.

Tallulah is a dog I adopted from the Tulsa Animal Aid organization. I took her home with me as an impulse to meeting her and knowing she needed a home. Granted I knew all the dogs from Animal Aid needed a home, but she was a dog that was having great difficulty in finding a home. Every logical thought, such as 'where will I keep her' or 'there's a reason no one else wants her, you don't either' or 'how are you going to go to college when you own a dog?', was ultimately ignored. I don't recommend to anyone that they adopt a dog out of an impulse of this dog needs a home, or this dog is cute. I do want to encourage people who have the heart to adopt an adult animal, to do it, but anyone who is considering, needs to think long and hard about it, whether it is right for them. At the time it wasn't really right for me, but she ended up being the right dog for me. 

Skipping a couple chapters, we made things work for a while, then it came time for me to go to college after nearly two years of being out of school. Finding a home where I could stay with her ended up meaning my parents purchasing a house for me to live in. I don't think I'm by any means the loser in that, but it was by all means a difficult and demanding thing on my parents, and I am eternally grateful for them and them being willing to go so far for me. 

"When people call people nerds, mostly what they are saying is 'You like STUFF!' Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, you are too enthusiastic about the miricle of human consciousness." Says John Green, author of teen novels such as Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns.

This video really rang a few bells for me. So I decided I wanted to step away from my camera talk for a moment and talk about something much more important. And that is how we percieve each other. 

Now, first I wanted to explain a little bit about John Green, and his brother who he is talking to in this video(and all his videos), named Hank. 

John Green is someone who has embraced his nerdiness, as part of who he is and helps one to realize it's not by any means bad to be nerdy. One of his episodes on Blog TV he talked about how there was a survey to see what book is most popular amoung certain age groups. The 12-15 year old results had some book that I can not remember. The 16-18 year old results had the book 'What are books?' which of course is not a book at all but a joke that expresses the fact that it is apparently 'uncool' to read. 

He went on to point out that as we grow up there are more and more things we are not allowed to like. His example was Sponge Bob Squarepants. Suggesting that there is an age group that is it okay to watch shows like that, and then there is an age group that it is not okay to watch shows like that. Now I won't argue that Sponge Bob is a poor example because I was never a fan of the show anyway. But he raises a good point. My room mate still likes to watch shows like Ed, Edd and Eddy. I have this preprogrammmed response to that, that it's lame that he's watching some stupid kid show. Now, again, I feel that this has to do with the fact that the show doesn't appeal to people of our age, BUT have you ever sat down and watched the show and couldn't turn away? I have. I'm not a big fan of any of those kids shows, but I can start watching and can't hardly turn away. 

Well, this comes to the point to argue why do I have to dismiss it as lame that someone else likes this stuff? Because it's not age appropriate? Well, if it makes him laugh still, then I don't think that's true is it? Just because I find the stupidity a bit more annoying then funny doesn't make it lame for someone else to like it. So is being uncool just not having the same interest as someone else?

I don't think that should be the case, but I could venture to say yes. And how much stuff are we not allowed to like in order to be cool? Like pretend I like this card game called Magic the Gathering, there would be some people who then would make fun of me for it. Well crap!

Or I like playing Dungeons & Dragons, another no no in the cool society?

But you have to like basketball or baseball or football or like being at the games at least! Or what if it meant you have to like getting drunk or high? Or you have to like the opposite gender. God forbid you don't like the opposite gender! 

So my point is that one should look at how we perceive people. Why do we think the way we do about other people? Is it because someone else thinks that and we have accepted it as our own standard for people? Why do we develope these standards anyway? 

What I believe is the right way to perceive people is the character they are, as a unique individual who has things that they like and they dislike and how they relate to you. If they like something that you absolutely hate, don't dismiss it as something dorky about them. Accept it.

Now, this subject is something I don't feel particularly good at talking about, I have just been listening to John Green talk about it enough that I wanted to speculate. None of the things I suggested relate to me in anyway, but if they did I would hope you wouldn't judge me for it. Which is--in fact--my point.