Jumping

original

Let’s say for the sake of argument that I’m hanging out, doing a little snowboarding on the Swiss Alps. It’s freezing cold of course. But instead of going to the lodge to sit in front of the nice warm fire and sip on some hot cocoa, I just close my eyes and imagine myself somewhere warm and sunny. Then poof, without any warning, I pop up on the hot sunny beaches of Hawaii, kicked back in a nice lounge chair, under a huge umbrella, sipping on Mai Ties. Well, that is the way it would be if I woke up one morning and discovered I woke up with the amazing ability to jump!

If you have never seen the movie, jumping is being able to go from one place to another just by picturing the other place in your head. To be completely honest, I would not use that power entirely for fun time and games. I would definitely do a few bad things with it. The very first thing I would have to do with my newfound power would be to rob a few banks. Of course they would have to be different banks from many different countries. I mean if I stayed in one place I’m sure I would eventually get caught. Seriously though, think about it. What would be the use of being able to jump from country to country if you’re flat broke? Picture it, having an extremely fine house everywhere you choose to jump. And, having millions of dollars to do whatever you wanted with in each of those places. I’m sorry, but no one would be able to tell me that this would not be the coolest power in the world to have.

Let us explore this a little bit further. There are so many different ways to use this very unique power. Let’s say for instance you are driving down the street and you are about to get into a horrific car accident. Well, just think real hard, (and quick) and poof, you are somewhere else safe and sound. Or, perhaps you got way to wasted while you were out at that nightclub in Amsterdam and you woke up to see the most hideous creature still asleep on your arm. Well, of course you don’t want to wake that thing up and risk having to talk to it, or wore, sleep with it again. So, poof, now we can just relax in our own bed back in Tokyo. There are so many wonderful uses to being a jumper. It’s a get out of jail free card, a life saver, a drunken night’s recovery, and a great first date!

I mean, maybe he or she wants some great pasta for your dinner date. So why not go to Italy? Although, I’m sure you would need to be a little careful on whom you aloud to know about your talent. Because, after all, every amazing power comes with great responsibility, and probably a few people that would like to get their hands on you so they can poke and prod and figure out why and how you work the way you do. What exactly is it that allows you to be able to jump from place to place? How can we take it away or be able to use it ourselves? Ok, so perhaps a first date would not be the best time to reveal you have this great power. You never know what or whom you’re dealing with. Even if you could never reveal to anyone your ability to jump, it would still be worth every bit of it.

So, looking back on all of the cool and exciting things I have mentioned being able to do with this, wouldn’t you like to have this very unique power? Could you honestly say that being able to jump from place to place in just a blink of an eye wouldn’t be cool? Wouldn’t you want to be able to have anything you wanted to and be able to travel all over the world and meet new and interesting people? I definitely would! Just think of the endless possibilities.



New

Let’s say for the sake of argument that you’re hanging out, doing a little snowboarding on the Swiss Alps. It’s freezing cold of course. But instead of going to the lodge to sit in front of the nice warm fire and sip on some hot cocoa, you just close your eyes and imagine yourself somewhere warm and sunny. Then poof, without any warning, you pop up on the hot sunny beaches of Hawaii, kicked back in a nice lounge chair, under a huge umbrella, sipping on Mai Ties. Well, that is the way it has been for me ever since I woke up one morning and discovered I woke up with the amazing ability to jump!

It was a regular Saturday morning for me, or so I thought. I got up got showered and got dressed. I decided I wanted to go out for breakfast so I went to IHOP. I was sitting there minding my own business when all of a sudden, out of nowhere these two guys came running in with guns drawn, screaming it was a stick-up and they wanted the girl that could jump. Of course I had no idea what they were talking about so I hit the ground like everyone else. The men told us that they would start to kill people one by one if the girl that could jump didn’t show herself and fast.

The two men looked directly at me and told everyone I would be the first to die. One of the men grabbed me and I closed my eyes wishing I was anywhere but there. Then, without warning I was back at home safe in my room. What had just happened? Had I dreamt the whole thing? I decided to turn on the TV and as I did there was a breaking news story. The local IHOP was taken hostage that morning from two men wanting the girl that could jump. Eye witnesses stated the men were just about to kill one girl when all of a sudden she disappeared into thin air. They were describing me. Had I done this thing they spoke of? Was I the girl that could jump?

I decided it was time for me to give this a try. I remembered back to exactly what I was doing when this strange thing happened. I closed my eyes and pictured myself down in my living room. Without any warning there I was, standing in my living room as if I had been there all along. I was stunned. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and two men shouting for me to come out or they were coming in. I panicked. What was I going to do? Just as I remembered what I could do and why the men were there they came busting in. One of the men grabbed me as I closed my eyes. When I woke up I was somewhere I had only dreamt of going. It was beautiful and sunny. I was actually in Hawaii sipping on a Mai Tie. I had done it again. “Jumped”. I decided while I was there I would practice my new found ability in case these people found me. How many were there out here like me? How many were out hunting me? I decided I had better come up with a plan.

I started “jumping” to other countries and jumping into bank vaults. I decided I had better have a lot of money and many different homes in order to stay clear of these “hunters”. Now I was prepared. I had a home and money in many different countries. I was ready for the next time these people decided to come for me. This was great. I mean, who could ask for more? The moment I got bored with where I was, no problem I would just “jump” to another place. I decided I had better not tell anyone of my power because I didn’t know who I could trust or what might happen if the wrong person found out. Life was great. I got to jump to many different places and meet many different people. In fact, in one of my jumps I happened to meet another jumper. We got to know each other quite well and learned that many of our jump spots were the same. We ended up falling in love and getting married and spending our days jumping from place to place for fun and for hiding out.

Write Or Die

This semester of English 111 has been an experience to say the least. There were lots of papers to be written. I am not too sure if I really became a better writer because of this class. I like to think that I am already a pretty good writer and I just do not feel that it has gotten any better. For those of you that are thinking of having Mr. Gasparo for your teacher you may want to think again. Don’t get me wrong, he is a very good instructor it is just a lot of work. The problem is this. You begin working on a paper, and before you have finished with the one you are working on he is throwing another assignment your way. You don’t really get time to focus all of your energy on one paper because you are always getting another on top of it. Doing it this way makes it very stressful.

We as a class discussed this with him and hopefully he will change this about his teachings. It just really makes it difficult to be able to fully understand the assignment you are working on when you get another one thrown at you at the same time. Something else that is quite difficult is trying to make the word count. Sometimes, you just dont have enough to say to make your essay 1200 words and you have to really try to add words. This is something you get used to prety quick though, and you learn how to stretch out your words. The other difficult thing with him would be the way he grades. A lot of us think his grading is quite anal. Some of the things he grades us on are a little ridiculous but perhaps it has made us better writers. Something else that I didn’t like very much about this class is the fact that everything is online. I just feel that if I wanted to take an online course then that is what I would have done. I guess once you get used to it though it’s not too bad, just more irritating than anything.

One thing I can say that I have taken away from this class is the fact that I have learned how to use some computer programs that I have never used before, and I know that will help me in the future. Also, I will be taking away the knowledge that I can perform pretty well under extreme pressure and deadlines. When you are a single parent trying to do the right thing to make a better life for your kids you have it rough. Having to do paper after paper made me realize that although it was extremely difficult to try and concentrate on it all, it is possible. For that, I thank Mr. Gasparo. I hope those of you reading this thinks long and hard before you decide weather or not you would like this workload. I’ll tell you what, before this class, English was my favorite subject, but after this class I am seriously re-thinking that one.