If you die, do you come back to life?

This image is from the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." In this picture, there are four African American gang members riding in a vehicle. In this game you are the driver and your goal is to take over the town, no strings attached. I believe that video games do make children more violent. An Alabama teenager named Devin Thompson killed three police officers when he was sixteen years old. He said that this video game inspired him to kill. Thompson reportedly told police, "Life is a video game. You've got to die sometime." There is a relationship between killing and this game because as you control the player you can shoot, run over, blow up, and even cut people down with a chainsaw. These activities that you can do in the game is very disturbing. There are a range of weapons that a player can use which range from a machete all the way to a bazooka. Another way that this is a controversial subject is because many children believe that if you die in real life, you can just hit a reset button and come back just like a video game. The scariness in that is, you do not come back.

This topic is very contoversial because children can get their hands on video games that are supposed to be rated for teens above the age of seventeen. As a young child I was getting these gory, violent video games by age ten. I personally am a very violent person and I believe that video games have had an effect on my life and my personality. Whenever I happen to get angry I tend to either break things or throw them or say things that I normally would not say. Even people today say, "I'm so mad I could kill someone." Even the horrific accident of the Columbine shooting is related to video games. Jerald Block, a US psychiatrist, said that the two students would get gratification by playing games like Doom, which is a zombie killing game. One of the shooters even created a level of Doom that was a layout of Columbine high school.

I own, play, and love video games. There are many violent video games sitting on my shelf right next to my xbox. I believe that there should be a way to control what kids play gory video games until a certain age. Parents should take control of what their children play. The parents dont have to take away video games but can atleast have a talk with their children about how a video game is not real. A game called Assassin's Creed takes place during the Crusades. You can go around the town and just assassinate people from behind. The blood that is spilled in that game is ridiculous. I believe that children should not play any game with that much gore. There should be a gore setting within the game so you can either have it on or have it off. I believe that video games are causing kids to become more violent due to the blood and gore.

Interviewing a subject

A normal work week for someone with a full time job is forty hours. The owner of Lowest Price Gas in Pasadena, Maryland works anywhere between sixty and ninety hours a week. Thats sometimes double a normal work week. Curt Ashton, my father, opened a gas station in Pasadena a year ago next month. The months of July, August, and September were very stressful for Curt. He worked for eight weeks for a minimum of twenty hours a day. These weeks were filled with old bathrooms, a torn bicep, and a lot of hardwork. Now the store is open, Curt continues to work long shifts. He wakes up at 4:30 am to make sure the station is open by 6:00 am. He then does not leave the station until 6:00 pm that night. If there is a payroll due that monday he even stays an extra two hours longer. This owner believes that his most important job is not doing paperwork or ordering gas but to "build strong relationships" with customers. I mean, if you have been doing it for twenty plus years it might come easier than a brand new business owner. The stress on this is so important that Mr. Ashton makes his employees talk to every customer that walks in to have a conversation with them as if they were bestfriends. He thinks that the more nice and friendly he is to his customers the more they are going to come back because they enjoyed the warm feeling. I also believe that this is important because if someone treats me bad when I go into a store I will always remember that store as having bad service and I might not want to go back there.

Gas prices around Frederick are about thirty to forty cents more than the prices at Lowest Price Gas. Mr. Ashton keeps his prices around the lowest in the state of Maryland, (he even was on channel 13 Baltimore because he had the lowest price in the state.) Right now his prices are, $2.28 for regular, $2.55 for plus, $2.65 for supreme, and $2.46 for diesel. These prices are in the top ten for lowest prices in the state. Another goal for this owner is to get as many people across the driveway and getting gas as he can. The margin for most gas stations on a gallon of gas is seven to eight cents. My dad's gas station only makes one to two cents on each gallon of gas. "Somtimes you need to suffer before you can really start making money." A way that he can counter act this small margin is to sell the convenience items inside the store. Sodas, chips, and tobacco is where the profit comes in. Another way that he can counter act the small margin is using the service bay that is connected to the station. This service bay can make up for the margin because everyday many cars breakdown and need repair. This area of business is where Curt likes to stress the most because the profit from fixing cars can sometimes double the profit of what he made on gas that day.

Customers usually never see the normal work day of the owner. Some people might think that the owner of a company sits back and has peopledo their work for them. Mr. Ashton is not one of those owners. Like I said earlier, he has a twelve hour work day everyday. He works the register with ease, works in the service bay just like he was a mechanic and he checks the competitors prices five to six times daily. He also manually makes the payroll for all ten of his employees without a payroll company. There is also a fine line that an owner has to walk with the relationship of his employees. "You dont want to get too involved in your employees lives because they will try to use you to their advantage....but sometimes you have to because they are your employee and you are trying to give them a good salary for their hardwork." I also asked him how it feels to be a 50/50 partner with his dad on owning the business. He said that maybe one day he can buy out the partnership and become one hundred percent owner.

There are some things that Curt wishes he could add to the gas station to improve the selling of gasoline. He wishes he could add an overhang canopy to protect his customers from the bad weather. I also asked Curt Ashton if he would ever open another station in a different location. He responded with a chuckle and said, "I wish I could without all the stress that came with the first one." He is very family oriented and if he were to open a new gas station he would never be home and he definetly does not want to up his work load. The long days, hard work, and constant recognizing of gas prices continues to drive most owners nuts, Curt Ashton, lives for it. A great business owner and an all around expert when it comes to gas prices, gas stations, and customer service.

Weis Grocery Store

Have you ever sat down and watched a grocery store cahier? Not just when your in line but when that cashier has to help more than one person at a time? Not many people have, but the young lady at the Weis in Spring Ridge was fortunate enough to have me, not really stalking, but obsessively watching at her comepleting her job.

As I took my spot on the bench near the checkout area, I examined a woman. I belived she was in her late 20's with dark brown hair and it was fashioned into a ponytail. I would guess that she weighted about 125 lbs. She was wearing a pair of khaki pants and a red collard Weis employee shirt with a white name tag on the upper chest area. She was quite friendly to the customers even though there was a feeling that she did not want to be there. This cashier was very effiecient at her job, she could scan, bag, and even hold a conversation with the customers while she was checking them out. The multi tasking of this employee was excellent. In conclusion I believe that she was very smart and her brain could function very well when faced with challenges. This is evident because she was able to count and give change easier than any other cashier in any other checkout line. After 30 minutes of observation, the employee left her station and went out infront of the store and lit up a cigarette.

Immediately after the cigarette was lit I decided to move and observe the shoppers of Weis grocery store. The tiles of the grocery store were tan with specs of dark brown in them. The ailes were numbered from 1 through 10, to the left was a salad bar equipt with everything, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cheese, and dressing. As I walked in, around, and through the ailes of the store, the shoppers reminded me of ants working to collect food for the queen. Lines of people browsing different items to consume. I observed a man in a black Billabong shirt and a pair of jeans. This man had a goatee and a mustache with black hair that looked like it was balding on the top. He was examing the cereal very curiously, he looked at every cereal box, from Special K to Cocoa Pebbles. Finally his eyes stopped and lit up with excitment, he had finally reached his goal, he reached out with his hand and grabbed a box of Froot Loops. I thought to myself that this was an excellent choice and that a person can never go wrong with Froot Loops.

During the time that I spent in the Weis in Spring Ridge, without buying anything, with a pen and paper, I probably looked like the biggest creeper in the store. These observations made me realize how simple the people in the world can be when it comes to choosing the food that they want to eat for dinner, lunch, or snacks. I seemed to be amazed with the choices of some of the people in the world today.

My first football game

For decades people have enjoyed the game of American football. The National Football League (NFL) has millions of viewers every sunday. The sport brings a sense of togetherness with a group of guys who work together, months of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and they leave it all on the field just to produce a win. Hard hits, touchdowns, and great coaching are the ingredients of the game. My first experience of a football game came in 1998 when I was six years old. I played little league football, mini pony.

A loud ringing from my alarm clock awoke me with fright and excitment. I got out of bed and put on my girdle. Next came the black pants that held the knee pads. Finally the jersey, number 72, red with white numbers, a small masterpeice with my last name on the back. It was a cold, foggy, saturday morning as I stepped into my father's truck. The ride to Sykesville's home field was filled with anxiety and suspense. I arrived at the field, the grass seemed greener than I have ever seen it before. I saw my teammates warming up and decided to go join them. I grabbed my shoulder pads, strapped up my helmet, and laced up my cleats. The game started at 8 and we lined up as captains. It was me and 3 others kids lined up against the Sykesville Raiders' captains who were dressed in black and silver. We lost the coin toss and they recieved the ball first. The kickoff to the game was exhilirating even though I was not on the field. Finally I got my chance to get in the game as a runningback. The play was a 21 halback sweep left. It was second and eight on our own 45 yard line. The cadence was called and the pitch came to me going left around the outside, I cut it back to the middle behind my blockers, as the play kept developing I headed to the sideline and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I broke a tackle and kept heading for the sacred grass laying in the endzone. I finally got the to goaline and spiked the ball as hard as I could into the ground. I scored my first touchdown on my first carry in my first game, it was one of the most fired up I have ever been. I then jogged to the sidelines and was met by my father and he picked me up and then slapped me in the helmet so hard I thought I had a concussion, which was probably true.

There are many things that people remember, their wedding, their first love, their first kiss, their first drink, but I remember my first football game. Since this saturday I have been obsessed with football, I watch every game I can, play it whenever I can, and even go to some professional games.

Bumper sticker philosophy

If I had to create a bumper sticker that modeled my philosophy for life, it would be "Feeling Alright." This quote is from a band called Rebelution and this quote means to just relax and don't let the stupid things put you in a bad mood. I believe that this is important because people let the little things get to them. I happen to use this philosophy everyday whenever I'm in traffic or someone cuts me off. I just let it go and don't let it get to me.



This philosophy can change your life, it will let you be more relaxed and focused on the goals that you need to accomplish. I believe that being relaxed is the most important thing because if you are tensed up, then anything could set you off and that could end up bad. When you are relaxed your mind seems to work harder, faster, and more efficient. So if something goes bad and you get a bad grade on a test, just let it go and you can do better on the next one. There is no point in dwelling on the past when there is a bright future ahead.