This is a song that means a lot to me. I think it is a very pretty song and it has some points in it that i think are very true. Particularly, the line “If young love is just a game then I must have missed the kick off”. This song should be heard at least once by everyone.

Going Away To College- blink 182

Please take me by the hand
It’s so cold out tonight, I’ll
Put blankets on the bed
I won’t turn out the light, just
Don’t forget to
Think about me, and I
Won’t forget you
“I’ll write you once a week,” she said

Why does it feel the same
To fall in love or break it off?
And if young love is just a game, then
I must have missed the kick-off
Don’t depend on me to
Ever follow through on
Anything but
I’d go through Hell for you and

I haven’t been this scared
In a long time
And I’m so unprepared
So here’s your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words
A simple melody
This world’s an ugly place
But you’re so beautiful to me

I’ll think about the times
She kissed me after class and
She put up with my friends
I acted like an ass, I
Ditched my lecture
To watch the girls play soccer
Is my picture
Still hanging in her locker?

I haven’t been this scared
In a long time
And I’m so unprepared
So here’s your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words
A simple melody
This world’s an ugly place
But you’re so beautiful…

I haven’t been this scared
In a long time
And I’m so unprepared
So here’s your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words
A simple melody
This world’s an ugly place
But you’re so beautiful…

There once was an old man., decrepit and soggy in sight. His back and body curled into question mark. He groaned and grumbled all day in his creaky rocking chair by the fire with his dry, stiff, weary mouth. He looked angry all the time, and he seemed to hate everything about everything. But through all his anger and crippled body, there was a softer, much gentler side to this old man. He had a passion bigger than any of the vast fields and farms in the country. He loved to make and collect clocks. They were the only things loud enough for the old man to hear. Not even his hearing aid could pick up any sound, except for that of the clock. It was a strange thing to only hear the sound of, but he enjoyed it so. Every day at midnight, every clock in the house went off at the same time. At this hour, was the only hour, that the old man ever smiled. Laying in his bed just before sleeping at midnight, he heard the thousands of clocks singing to him through the dead night air. He would just smile and go to sleep when the house went silent once again, never even opening an eye. One night, when the air was unusually cold, and the old man unusually tired, he had gone to bed early. All of the lights were out, and the house was silent. The man slept peacefully in his bed. In the midst of the night, there came a noise. A slight creek rang out through the still house. A burgler had opened the door and stepped into the old mans house. He snuck silently up the stairs to the old mans bedroom where he lay sound asleep. “This house will be easy to get, i know this old guy is deaf.” he thought to himself. The masked man tip-toed to the bed, reached his shaking hand slowly in to his pocket, and drew a knife. He watched the old man sleep for a minute or two and whispered, “Now you are mine.” He raised the knife high above his head. At this the burgler dropped his dagger on the old man’s bed, for there came a terrifying noise from the level below. Midnight had struck and he was trapped by the sounds of one thousand clocks, “Cuckoo, cuckoo! Ding, ding! Bong! Tweet, tweet!” no sooner had he turned his head from the noise had he turned it back to see the old man staring into his horrified eyes whispering, “Cuckoo, cuckoo,” which was the last thing the masked man would ever hear.

Carl Degler discusses many of the importances of religion, education and the stereotypes that came along with them. The Puritans viewed the bible very differently from many Christians today. They felt that, “God sent you not into this world as a Play-House, but a Work-House.” In the years before the revolution, the Puritans had a theocracy and religion and education coincided. These were very important in Puritan society.

Puritans had a gloomy and sad outlook on life. They thought that God did not intend for them to enjoy things but rather that they must work for God in order for him to accept them. The stereotype of Puritans is that they are strict in their work and school and life and not enjoying themselves because it is viewed as sin. Degler rebuts this because of the numerous accounts of confessions in church of premarital sexual relations, inebriation and swearing. He shows that the Puritans were human and they did indulge in the luxuries of life and enjoy themselves even if their actions were considered sins.

Education and religion, in the seventeenth century, were one in the same. The schools and colleges were built around religion and learning the bible. Since the Puritans had a theocracy, people needed to become very educated in the Bible to obtain a high position in government and church. People primarily went to universities to become ministers or high church officials. As stated by a Puritan divine, “Ignorance is the mother (not of Devotion but) of Heresy.”

The Puritans were also in some ways, hypocrites. They had separated from the Anglican church but they did not allow anyone in their own society to disagree or break off from them. They shunned Anne Hutchinson for her ideals of being “filled with god” and not needing to go to church or have a church official to talk to God. She spoke out against the Christian church and was persecuted for her beliefs. The Puritans had very hypocritical views in their church because even though they broke off from a church and had different beliefs, they did not accept anyone who believed differently than them.

The Bible and religion were studied in the early schools of the Puritans. The first college in the United States was Harvard, and it was made for the highest learning available in the seventeenth century. The school was made to primarily teach ministers. Preparatory schools were made to prepare people who were to attend the college. Many colleges and universities were built after Harvard, also. Education was of the utmost importance to the Puritans because their society was based on religion and in order to understand their religion, they had to attend school. This is shown when Degler states, of the importance of Puritan education, “To the Puritans the education of ministers could be nothing less than the best learning of the day.”

Puritans took education and religion very seriously. Their lives were devoted to the understanding of the Bible and to work for God and not to indulge in happy lives. H.L. Mecken stated of Puritan lifestyle, “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” They regarded education highly and needed it to survive and taught religion in school in order to have educated ministers. Their views on religion were very hypocritical and strict, but not all people abode by the rules of the church which contradicts the Puritan stereotype of the not happy and fun forbidding life.

The “Sit-N-Spin”, though a simple contraption, was one of the most beloved toys that I had in my childhood. The concept was simple, just sit on the edge of the round disk, wrap you legs around the little wheel in the middle and spin yourself around. I loved trying my hardest to go as fast as I could to feel the rush of air gust through my hair. I loved watching my grandmother’s living room turn into swirls of colors and luster. I would spin so apace, that the “Sit-N-Spin” would tip over and I would fall on the ground. I would close my eyes and fell the room move about in very direction. The room would jolt and quake as I lied there on the cushy carpet. The room would slowly repress and the colors and lights in the room would be back to normal.