Happy Inauguration Day!!!

Today is a very historical day. Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States! I have to say that I'm very patriotic today! I watched both the Vice President and Obama be sworn in. It was all very cool. I've never really paid much attention to days like today. I think part of the reason was because I was younger and politics didn't really catch my attention yet. At any rate, I'm very glad that I watched it today. There was a lot of silly stuff of course; that's what the media likes to do with things like this.... But under that fluff there was something really important and meaningful.
I thought that Obama's speech was terrific. He addressed the problems we faced in this country, but instead of bringing us down with all that, he lifted our spirits. He reminded us what a great nation we truly are, and of the values that we all share. He believes that we are indeed all created equal and that we can overcome our differences to succeed. The whole speech was very moving, and there were tears in my eyes. At the end, I was crying a little, though I tried to hide that from those around me. I hope we can do everything he mentioned, and that we can do it together.
I am very proud to be an American today, and I hope my fellow peers are, too. No matter your politics, you have to agree that today was very historical and symbolic of change to come.
I certainly won't forget it.

The Real 'Hilts'

I was thinking recently about my nickname. My address for this blog is hiltsthecoolerking. I wanted to explain about the name a little.

I like my nickname of Hilts. No one else has it. A friend of mine started calling me that after we were talking about my favorite movie at the time, "The Great Escape." I love this movie, and she was the only person I knew my age who had seen it. It's a timeless classic; the story of American and British POWs in a prison camp during World War Two. They have to work together to escape from their German captors. It works for a suspenseful, exciting and at times humorous movie. 'Hilts' is Captain Virgil Hilts, played by Steve McQueen, my favorite actor. I liked the character because he's a rebel. He doesn't let the Germans take him down and break his spirit. They call him the 'cooler king' because he always spends time in solitary confinement, which the prisoners nicknamed, 'the cooler.' There is just something fascinating in Hilts' tenacity. Each time he's led into the Cooler by two German soldiers, his friend tosses him a baseball and glove. Hilts sits in his cell and throws the ball against the wall, over and over again, coming up with his next escape attempt. I remember first seeing that. I thought it was so cool. This guy treated his imprisonment as a job. He'd take the baseball and just throw it, passing the time until he could get out and escape again. No matter how many times they throw him in the Cooler, Hilts never learns his lesson. They never get to him; his spirit is never broken.

That's pretty powerful to me.

Hilts is the perfect hero, because he can't be compromised. He's that kind of character that the others want to be. He's independent and rides a motorcycle to freedom. I think Hilts is the embodiment of a great American hero.

And I'm so glad that I've been nick-named likewise.

Burnout

Ugh! The week back from Winter Break is definatley trying on my sanity. I have so much homework to do, especially with exams coming next week. Today I actually have some time to spare, so right now I'm going to gripe about crap to no one in particular....
First, a bunch of exam projects are to be had. English saw me furiously working to comprise my project on Jazz and tie that in with it's African Roots; not as easy as you might think. In Creative Writing, I have to make up a portfolio of all the work we've done this year and then a presentation. Not too hard, really, but it's just one more thing I've got to do. Spanish is what's really making me mad lately. We don't do anything in that class!! I swear to God I sleep with my eyes open. I zone out every day and nothing seems to grab my attention. I've been teaching myself vocab lately, or seeing if I can play a whole song in my head without being called on. (I can, by the way!!) That's how bad it is. I can usually get through two songs without my attention being diverted to something else. So today when we were suddenly dumped-trucked with a bunch of homework, I was like, "Seriously? You're giving us this much crap to do?" It probably won't even be checked in for a grade! And even if it is checked in, we won't get it back 'til freaking March anyway....
....whew. Rant over (for the most part). But it's seriously stupid at times. I know enough about Dia de los Muertos to fill up a book, but when a Spanish person talks to me, I stop and go, "Huh?" Okay.... so I got a little ranty there, but yeah. I'm done. Glad I could find something to blog about. I didn't blog over Winter Break because I was content doing nothing. ;)
But I'm back, for right now. We're getting closer to Inaguaration Day, so yay! I'm excited for that.
Isn't it great to start over at the beginning of the year and have a clean slate?
Yay Optimism!