My Favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe Good Guys (Phase 2)

Every good guy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has great qualities that we can learn from, but I like some more than others. Hey, don't hate me for the list, just change your opinion to match the list! (Just kidding!)
Note that this list is (as of 2015) just for Phase 1 and 2. I will be updating it for Phase 3! I may have missed some good guys, so comment which ones I missed and where they should be on the list!
MINOR SPOILERS FOR MCU PHASE 2 MOVIES

Without further ado, in most favorite to least favorite order:

1. Hawkeye- just an average guy that practiced to get where he is on the Avengers squad. RESPECT
2. Groot- do I really need to explain this one?
3. Agent Carter- Badass federal agent tearing down gender roles by being a freaking BAWS.
4. Captain America- He's the embodiment of everything good in a person. 'NUF SAID.
5. Rocket- a raccoon with an attitude, Rocket is HILARIOUSLY AWESOME.
6. Starlord- doing what he wants, when he wants, Peter Quill is SUPER CHILL.
7. Daredevil- doing what he needs to do to save a dying city. Did I mention he's blind? MAD SKILL
8. Quake- an Inhuman discovering her true past, learning a ton along the way. She's crazy LOYAL.
9. Bucky Barnes (Cap's first movie)- Cap's number 2, he died for the greater good. DEDICATION
10. Agent Coulson- will do anything to protect the world, he's an amazing LEADER
11. Nick Fury- really freaking cool, he brought together the Avengers. THE EYEPATCH
12. Vision- Jarvis in real life, Vision is awesome. Also, he can lift Thor's hammer. WORTHY
13. War Machine- he stole Stark's tech to prevent him from being a drunk hero. RESPONSIBLE
14. Iron Man- hilarious, sarcastic, and above all, a freaking tech GENIUS
15. Black Widow- a mysterious ninja chick. She brings the team together. SUPPORTIVE
15. Banner/Hulk- one's an intelligent scientist. The other is a giant green RAGE MONSTER
16. Winter Soldier- though brainwashed by HYDRA, he's back with a vengeance. REDEMPTION
17. Thor- a freaking Asgardian prince and god, Thor learned to contain his arrogance. HUMILITY
17. Drax- Ronin killed his family, and so he killed Ronin. FEARLESS
18. Falcon- befriended Cap in the modern age, he took out his suit to fight once more. READY
19. Scarlet Witch- though manipulated by Ultron, she chose the good path. RIGHTEOUSNESS
20. Quicksilver- super fast at everything, he defied Ultron to save Sokovia and Earth. DEFIANT

Perfection

Perfection

Pure and true

But always elusive

Two steps away

But always going away

The pursuit of it

Is futile

Yet it is done

Perfection

Impossible, yet desired

Almost perfect

But never there

Perfection

Running away

Scared of being found

Of being tainted

Perfection

Hidden nowhere

Found nowhere

Non-existent, seemingly

Yet it can be seen

If only you want to

Perfection

Hidden nowhere

Found nowhere

Non-existent, yet

It's pursued

Chased after

By those

Unworthy of it

Perfection

Never found

For if found

The perfection

Will be lost

In being discovered

It will crumble

Into a million pieces

Perfection

Don't try

But try still

Just don't find it

And if it is found

Then it isn't

To be spread

For while in motion

It gathers dirt

Dragging it down

Going down, down, down

Into the ground

The Rain

The rain pit-patters
Striking the window
Like the gloom
Strikes you

The clouds envelope the sky
A deathly shade of grey
And as the sun is blocked out
As is the happiness

The water rushes along the road
Taking with it the twigs and grass
A flood is occurring
A flood of sadness within you

But the rain pit-patters
Striking the window
Like the calm and quiet
Rolls over you

The clouds envelope the sky
A beautiful pale grey
And as the sun is blocked out
As are the distractions, the noise

The water rushes along the ground
Turning the grass a lush green ocean
A blanket over the plants
A blanket of peace over you

Pleasing Others: I Don't Have To, I Shouldn't

I just had a "deep" conversation with my friend Samantha from samtheantworld.blogspot.com:
Note that parts of the conversation have been cut out for irrelevance to the topic at hand, or to make more sense.

Me: Memories mixing together, and melding as one, like snowflake into a puddle. They're all unique at first, but they all end up the same. Except for the truly special ones, the ones which you catch on your tongue or create a snowman out of... or plow from in front of your front door

Samantha: NICE

Me: And now, as I read your blog in the other tab, I STILL CAN'T REACH THE LEVEL OF SOPHISTICATION OF INTELLIGENCE, OF EMPATHY, AND OF UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU CAN.

WHYYYYYYY?!?!?!

[A few messages later]

Me: Like seriously, my latest blog post is REALLY FREAKING STUPID. I just want to keep up with one post a week... BUT WRITING SHOULDN'T FEEL LIKE A CHORE. I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS TO MYSELF. I FEEL A NEED, A COMPELLING DESIRE TO CREATE. BUT IT'S NEVER GOOD... NEVER AS GOOD AS WHEN I SIT DOWN AND JUST TYPE... LIKE IT'S FORCED, YOU KNOW? IT'S NOT HEARTFELT OR COMPASSIONATE WITHOUT A MESSAGE OR MEANING. JUST THERE. JUST SITTING THERE, MEANINGLESS, WASTING PEOPLE'S TIME. JUST, ENDLESS BLOBS OF TEXT. UNNECESSARY, UNCALLED FOR YET WRITTEN FOR THTE SOLE PURPOSE OF PLEASING OTHERS. UTTERLY FAILING IN THAT GOAL. In short, I'm disappointed with myself and my blog...

Samantha: TAKE THAT ^^ AND POST IT!

Me: It'll be like, 1/2 a page!!!

DANG IT, THERE IT IS AGAIN!

Samantha: DUDE!

Me: I FEEL THE NEED TO DO STUFF, TO PLEASE OTHERS WITH LENGTHY POSTS, WHEN IN FACT, I DON'T... 

I JUST NEED TO POUR OUT MY HEART, MY THOUGHTS INTO THE KEYBOARD!

Samantha: YOU KNOW HOW MY FIRST 2 POSTS HAPPENED?! THEY WERE JUST HANGOUTS RANTS!!!

Me: [Back from a Caps Lock Rant] Oh really?

Samantha: YES!

[A few more messages later]

Me: And your blog is just so much more... AESTHETICALLY PLEASING!!!

Samantha: WELL DUH! IT HAS MONET, CAN'T BE BEAT!!

Me: AND ALL I HAVE IS A DULL BEIGE BACKGROUND WITH BOOKS.

LAMEEEEEEEEE

Samantha: NO I LIKE IT! DID YOU CHOOSE IT YOURSELF OR WAS IT DEFAULT?

Me: I chose it myself, but it was from the things that Blogger offered me for the template... I'M JUST NOT CREATIVE! I FEEL AS THOUGH I AM, BUT IN REALITY I'M FAR FROM IT. LIKE A LOWLY FLY THINKING IT'S A GREAT BIRD IN THE GREAT BLUE EXPANSE OF THE SKY. I CAN BUZZ AROUND WITH MY TINY TRANSLUCENT WINGS, THINKING THAT IT MEAN SOMETHING, BUT IN REALITY IT DOESN'T! IT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! IT WILL DIE A SHORT, MEANINGLESS DEATH, DEVOID OF LIFE, JUST A CARCASS, SOME TISSUE AND TWO EYES ONTO A TINY BODY. ALL I CAN DO IS CONSUME!!! PRODUCE NOTHING, THAT I CAN DEFINITELY DO!

[A few more messages later]

Samantha: YOU SHOULD JUST TAKE YOUR RANT AND POST THAT!

Me: Yeah... But I'll post it next week...

Samantha: WHY?!?!?!?!

Me: So then I'll have material in case nothing pops us next week.

Samantha: BETTER TO DO IT NOW!!

Me: Dang it, THERE I GO WITH PLEASING OTHERS AGAIN! I SHOULD JUST DO WHAT I FEEL LIKE, NOT CARE. I SHOULDN'T FEEL COMPELLED TO WRITE, I SHOULD DO IT BECAUSE I CAN!

Samantha: EXACTLY! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG!

Me: I SHOULDN'T CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK!

[A few more messages later]

Samantha: JUST WRITE WHATEVER YOU'RE THINKING!

Me: Okay, then I will have minimal editing in the post that I will make out of this... [So meta!]

Samantha: LIKE YOU SAY YOU WANT TO SEEM MORE SPONTANEOUS, BUT I THINK YOU INTERRUPT YOURSELF TOO OFTEN. YOU HAVE SIDETONES EXPLAINING AND JUSTIFYING YOUR INTENT AND APOLOGIZING FOR STUFF! WHEN THEY SHOULDN'T NEED EXPLAINING AND JUSTIFYING AND APOLOGIZING. THEY STAND ON THEIR OWN!!!!

Me: True. 'Cause in the end, IT'S MY FREAKING BLOG.

--PRANAV

There's No Reason To Worry #1

Before you read the following, keep in mind that these will not be my only blog posts. I will still keep up with the normal "deep, intellectual" (and I know you're thinking in your head, "PFFFFFT, this blog sucks. Stop TAKING YOURSELF SO SERIOUSLY PRANAV!" and you would be right) blog posts. Also, it's kind of random and really badly written, so read at your own discretion.

They found him in front of the police station, dead. There was no sign of any bullet hole, bruises, incisions, or the like. It seemed as though the man had just dropped dead in the middle of the night, on his way to who knows where. The area was taped off with yellow tape, and police were milling about every which way. And in the center of it all as the body. Almost as though he was sleeping, the victim (was he really a victim though?) lay there sprawled out, limbs at angles so painfully strange that merely looking at the body caused shudders.

There was, however, a hand-scrawled note. ComE and get me, it read. Of course, the police had already gotten that note and sent it to forensics. That didn’t stop the man on top of building across from the police station from making his own copy of the note. An... unabridged version, yes, let’s call it that. And on this version, it read, ComE and get me. The russians and theIr allies are sCared of me, ProbabLy bEcAuSE they’re DroppIng likE flies cuz of yours truly.

The man on the building shook his head, spat onto the streets below, and was gone in an instant. Nobody knew he was there. Nobody knew where he went. Perfect. Across town, in a dark alley filled with rotting lasagna and the putrid odor of molding cheese, a man in a tall white chef’s hat fell. The Italiano’s was closing up for the night, and Giovanni was supposed to lock up and check out for the night.

The owners of Italiano’s saw the key still in the lock of the back-door of their precious restaurant. But more importantly they saw the night-shift guy (who knows his name?), fallen face-first on the steps leading up to the back door. The wails of the police cars rushing to the scene could be heard from all around. The black-clad policemen started putting up the yellow striped tape, but then they found another note, but could it really be called a note? A series of hieroglyphics (or what the college-dropout policemen thought were hieroglyphics) was engraved on top of the dumpster beside the body.  [insert drawing here]

The police stayed there for the rest of the day, talking, investigating, whatever police do. But as the sun fell beneath the buildings and exploded into a multitude of colors, they failed to notice the man on top of the Italiano’s. Once again, he looked from the dark outline of the message on the dumpster and back to the slip of paper in his hand. Once again he shook his head, muttering to himself darkly, “It’s him again. I know it...” Once again, he melted back into the darkness. Nobody knew he was there. Nobody knew where he went. Perfect.

Police were still dumbfounded by the sudden deaths of two healthy, average people. And they were more dumbfounded still when nobody had stepped up to identify the two. In the small town of Clare View Point, everyone knew everyone else, and when somebody knew came into town, everybody knew about it. So who were these people, and how had they met their end? That was the question on everybody’s mind. But nobody was able to solve it.

Stay tuned for the second installment!

--PRANAV

Rejecting Ideas... Why You Are Wrong

IN science, we have this project about climate change, and stuff, and it has kind of opened my eyes to the fact that PEOPLE REJECT THE CLIMATE CHANGE THEORY.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

THERE is a plethora of evidence to the contrary (see: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ for more information), yet people still oppose this. WHY? Because it goes against something deeply ingrained in them, from their childhood, from the "good ol' days". When something is so utterly and completely against one's ideology and set of values, either we 1) ignore it, saying that such an idea "doesn't exist" or, 2) we attempt to debunk, discredit, or otherwise kill this idea. And I think this is why we are wrong. When we don't open our eyes to different ideas, we are ALWAYS wrong. This isn't about climate change or climate stagnation and whatnot. It's about how we as HUMANS must learn to accept different ideas.

SO, to begin, let's start at what has started ME on this topic. CLIMATE CHANGE. We know it happens, but people oppose it because they have their own set of values that takes precedent or is utterly opposite to this theory. For example, maybe somebody owns a huge oil tycoon, so, naturally, climate change is BAD FOR BUSINESS. Thus, the feigned ignorance begins, or they go out of their way to say, "CLIMATE CHANGE IS BS!!!!" Whatever the effect may be, they don't like climate change, or anything that is "a threat" to them.

<sidenote> Yes, I know how redundant and obvious the above paragraph is, sorry. <sidenote>

BUT, of course, there is always a flipside. Those who support climate change (like, we don't like that the climate is changing, but we support the idea of it being a THING) also go out of their way to debunk and discredit those seemingly-ignorant/ridiculously-dumb people that reject this theory. WE must also acknowledge (note that I said "acknowledge", not "accept") their point(s) of view, no matter how off-the-wall, utter BS it is. 

<sidenote> I am, often (usually) unable to do this, to acknowledge others' point(s) of view, and this is one big flaw of mine. Maybe this is something that develops with age, or maybe it is a quirk of one's personality that allows one to be so OPEN to ideas, to feelings, to stuff in general. <sidenote>

ONTO my next point... POLITICS. I MOST DEFINITELY won't be talking about politics in ANY blog posts of mine, but I will talk about the PSYCHOLOGY (or what I think about the perceived psychology of) politics and the LIBERAL vs. CONSERVATIVE notion which is present, at least, here in America. Recently, I witnessed a vortex of terrifyingly close-mindedness in the comment section of a particular Google+ post (Martin from the sudoku post, you know what I'm talking about). Of course, it was about politics. It is stuff like this that PREVENTS PROGRESS, this clash of ideas. Not necessarily the CLASH itself, but what that entails: blatant disrespect for others with opposing viewpoints. I, for one, have friends of all political viewpoints-- just because someone is liberal or someone is conservative (most often) doesn't mean that I will like someone more than another person.  But, ALAS, it has come to that. These things, as previously stated, PREVENT PROGRESS, in this case, through the lack of legislation in the United States' Congress. This can be seen elsewhere too, though. The clash of ideas over climate change prevents so-called "green" technology from being more easily conceived and engineered.

WE ARE ALL WRONG. WRONG to assume we are right. WRONG to assume we are wrong. WRONG to ignore different ideas. WRONG to... okay, I ran out of things to say...

TL;DR Rejecting ideas prevents progress. ACKNOWLEDGE others' ideas and the world will be a better place. It takes one person at a time. And it's hard, I know, but I believe that it will be worth it for a better. brighter future.

--PRANAV

Sudoku and Perseverance

RECENTLY, in history class, since most other kids were taking the Algebra I End of Course Exam, we were just given sudoku puzzles and told, "Solve these, and you get a prize." HOWEVER comma, Samantha (yes Samantha from samtheantworld.blogspot.com) gave me her sudoku puzzle (half-solved, mind you), saying, "You'll need it." I had no idea what she was talking about, but I kept it cuz that's what I do.

WHEN the teacher came in and saw me with a sudoku puzzle, he recognized it as "cheating", even though we were going to get different puzzles. The punishment was that we would have to wait 5 PRECIOUS MINUTES to get our puzzles, and when we got them, at the top it said "DIABOLIC". For those of you who don't know what that means: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diabolic. Yeah, so my group members (let's call them Martin, Graham, and Alex, names generated from behindthename.com/random) and I were pretty much screwed over.

THE first thing I thought to do was try and find the solution to the puzzle. At the top, it said:

GRID N° 99975165 - DIABOLIC

And at the bottom it said:

printmysudoku.com

So, naturally I googled this on my phone and, followed by the word "answer". NOTHING even remotely resembling a solution popped up. I tried different keywords, mixed up the order, NOTHING. I tried this for almost 10 minutes until I gave ut p, thinking, "I guess we'll have to do this by hand." I kept grumbling about how. Also, note that we (along with everyone else) were given 2 puzzles to solve to get the prize, both of which were DIABOLICAL. Everybody else, meanwhile, got only HARD difficulty puzzles. 

So I put this minor defeat of failing to cheat behind me, and put my head to the puzzle. Or pencil to the paper. Or head to the paper? No, that doesn't make sense... ANYWAYS, We had 45 minutes to solve the puzzle, due to my "cheating" incident, and we used all 45 of them. We split up the work, one pair (Martin and I) would solve the 99975165 puzzle and the other pair (Graham and Alex) would solve the other. Martin and I worked and worked and WORKED until we reached a wall we couldn't break down without breaking. We looked at every empty cell, and tracked back our work several times, but nothing could be put down FOR SURE. SOOOOOOOO, Martin took a picture of the puzzle pre-guesswork, so that if our guess was incorrect, we would know how the puzzle was before. Also, this guess only involved 2 numbers, a "1" and a "3", both in the same 3 by 3 box. We first tried the 1 on the top cell and 3 in the bottom, filling in the entire 3 by 3 box, but after deducing about 10 more cells, we realized that this was the incorrect guess. Referring back to the picture taken earlier, and with common sense (and a logician's masterful deduction skills), we fixed our guess and solved the puzzle. At this point, there was only about 5 minutes left in class. BUT WE HAD FINISHED, YES! Throughout the solving of this ABSOLUTELY HORRID PUZZLE, I had felt, I dunno, a kind of stress build up in me, like "You won't be able to solve this! YOU WON'T!" Naturally I pushed it aside, kept working at it, and eventually, and WE SOLVED IT! We had persevered 'til the very end, and we had SUCCEEDED. 

The feeling of triumph and achievement felt SOOOO GOOOOOOOOD. Afterwards, Martin and I discussed the psychological effects of this sudoku puzzle, of stress, of perseverance, and of OUR EPIC PUZZLE SOLVING SKILLS.

TL;DR We got a really tough sudoku puzzle to solve. I tried to cheat, but failed. After we set our mind to it and pushed aside the notion that this was UNSOLVABLE, we solved it. After all, it's only a matter of time before you succeed in something you work hard at.

--PRANAV

I'll Do It Tomorrow

PROCRASTINATION. We know we do it. We know how to stop it. And we will... TOMORROW.

<sidenote> I know that was a bad joke. Let it slide. Also, expect more of those on this blog <sidenote>

I definitely procrastinate. Homework assignments, studying for tests, doing chores, you get the idea. Just the idea of getting up from my luminous computer screen and actually DOING something kills me, let alone ACTUALLY doing the task. I think I know why, though.

I think it is because humans have evolved basically to survive, to reproduce, and to thrive in the world. And we've done that... just a LITTLE too well. We've gotten to the point where, for most of the first-world countries, at least, our human brain tells us, "Dude, you don't need to do this homework assignment. It's not ESSENTIAL to our survival after all," and I'm like, "BRAIN, you don't understand, I need to do this... oh look, an interesting YouTube video!" You see what I mean? Our brains constantly grab onto whatever catches our eye or looks interesting-- homework, unfortunately, is not one of these things. This is (my theory, so it probably isn't true... just guesswork) probably because our brain says, "YO, Pranav, you don't need to do homework, let's do something more fun!" and, once again, I'm like, "NOOOOOO.... actually, yes."

HOWEVER, on the flip side, I believe that people that don't have enough (or don't think they have enough) don't procrastinate, because there brain is like, "Hey, Guy-Who-Doesn't-Procrastinate, let's do something useful so you reach your goals!" and this is what separates the do-ers from the followers in this world. People who are always working harder to achieve more, and feel a NEED to achieve more do it, because, unlike some people (ahem, myself, ahem), their brain supports them in this endeavor to achieve more because they feel that it is a necessity.

<sidenote> Half-way through the last sentence of the paragraph above, a bug flew into my ear, so I gave myself that as an excuse to run around my room like a mad-man trying to shoo the bug away for almost 15 minutes... As I said, I procrastinate, giving myself excuses that don't even make sense <sidenote>

AND I know (kind of) how to fix procrastination. You just don't let yourself do it. Your brain only gets distracted by things if it has things to get distracted by... if that makes sense. So, just don't allow yourself to get distracted. For instance, whenever I get onto the computer, for example, for research, I ALWAYS keep a tab open in the top left corner that say "DON'T PROCRASTINATE" or something along those lines, so whenever I click back to another tab, my eyes, glance over that tab, and that guilty sensation that one gets when procrastinating becomes doubly horrible, sometimes to the point where I HAVE to do the assignment or whatever I need to do before I can continue wasting more time. But that's just my two cents.

TL;DR I procrastinate a lot, like lots of other people. I think this is because we have achieved our evolutionary goal in life (to survive), so our brain doesn't want to do anything else boring. Therefore, it distracts us with anything that seems interesting. A way to combat this is to 1) remove all distractions from your workplace and 2) keep reminding yourself of a deadline or project that is due.

--PRANAV

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Average Joe Review

SO, on May 1st, 2015, I went to the theater to see the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. And this is my review of the movie.

MANY movie critics highly disliked it because it seemed formulaic in the sense that the humor, though witty, was similar to the first Avengers... same with the conflict that the Avengers can't get along with one another (this conflict was kind of magnified/amplified in the 2nd Avengers). HOWEVER comma, those are movie critics. Are YOU a movie critic? I hope not.

<sidenote> If you are a movie critic, I apologize if this post may have insulted you in any way, shape, or form <sidenote>

YOU are probably just an average Joe wanting to catch a really hyped up movie. Do you care about if  it's the same? PROBABLY not. Do you like humor, same or otherwise? PROBABLY. And here is a review of the movie from my perspective: the AVERAGE JOE perspective.

First off, this review doesn't contain any spoilers for Age of Ultron. So don't fear. HOWEVER comma, it may contain spoilers for other MCU movies/TV series.

THE movie hits the ground running with immense action, picking up where Captain America 2 left off , with SHIELD (or what's left of it) and the Avengers trying to shut down HYDRA's experimentation program on enhanced... Marvel couldn't call them mutants because FOX owns that. They do that stuff, but new characters are introduced, new "enhanced". The action really gets real.

AS the movie picks up, the action is omni-present. A Mon Avis, that's a good thing, making it really hard for the viewer to get bored. Note that a minor romance sub-plot is introduced early on into the movie, which I kind of dislike because there was no foreshadowing that either subject had any interest or chemistry with the other. As the action progresses, so does the tension between characters, kind of like Avengers 1.

EPIC action sequences follow one another until they all result into an EPIC BATTLE between good and evil. I really enjoyed the cinematography, camera angles showing the NOW-GIGANTIC cast of characters duking it out versus the evil dudes. Camera movement was spot on, and shaky-cam was minimal (if ever present... AHEM HUNGER GAMES). The new enhanced mentioned earlier in the film finally learn to use their powers for good instead of evil. ALSO, characters introduced in previous MCU films were definitely involved in the final battle. SORRY if that gave anything away.

FINALLY, I'm kind of glad that all characters got more even screen time than the first Avengers. Banner, Stark, Black Widow, Thor, Captain America, and especially HAWKEYE (my favorite character) got even screen time and dialogue and plot-importance.

TL;DR Age of Ultron is an AMAZING movie. I give it a 4.5/5, just because some of the romance was uncalled for. Other than that, brilliant movie, killer cast, everything was spot on and outstandingly put together. Good job, Joss Whedon, for doing the impossible... having a bajillion characters and still managing to make a fantastic movie.

--PRANAV

Wars Over Trivial Things.

I'VE noticed kind of a TREND on the Internet these days. People are arguing over such trivial matters. Android vs. iOS vs. Windows Phone. Chrome vs. Mozilla vs. Safari. Gif with a hard g vs. Gif with a j sound. WHY? WHYY? Why are we wasting out time on stuff that doesn't even matter to us. Why SHOULD we care if people like iPhones more than Android Phones? Why should we care how certain people pronounce things? Well, I have a theory...

<sidenote> I don't know the exact definition of "theory" so this might not be a theory at all <sidenote>

I think these people just have WAYYYYYY too much time on their hands... kind of like me. But instead of channeling it into what I consider a positive endeavor (writing this, ironically), they just channel their inner hate. They want to show everyone how tough they can be, just via their keyboard. These people can be from all walks of life, maybe one is a bully, then the other might be a victim of bullying. That's the thing, you see. On the internet, nobody knows who you are. You could be some 40-year-old man living in his mom's basement, surviving purely off of your internet connection and delivery pizza. Or you could be a really sensitive, bullied, teased 10-year-old that just needs to let off some steam. I never know if I should retaliate and fight back or just let it slide, knowing full well that I was right.

<sidenote> I (mostly) only ever say/argue something if I know for a fact that I'm right. This applies on the internet only. In real life, that's a different story.... <sidenote>

YOU see, if I retaliate, I could just push the person to fight back, kind in a "backed-into-a-corner" type of way. But if I do NOTHING, then the person just got away with whatever they said, correct or otherwise.

YOUTUBE comments are the worst. That's why, on most of my YouTube comments, I just flag/report abuse to those comments that incite flame-wars and the like. You see, confrontation in real life is fine for me, but on the internet, NO SIREE. I always back down to a fight on the internet, because:

1) I really want to leave a positive digital footprint, and feeding the trolls kind of counteracts that, and
2) I only type to those that actual respect/acknowledge what I write. For instance, I've responded in the past to a couple of trolls, trying to silence them with the CLICK CLACK of my keyboard, but they just answer with a string of obscenities and slurs, pretty much like a caveman. Why should I waste my energy on such people?

TL;DR So yeah, I learned my lesson not to feed trolls or fight back because it could 1) hurt someone, 2) wastes my energy, 3) impact my digital footprint negatively.

SORRY this was kind of a short and insignificant post about the internet, but I felt that I needed to talk about it.

--PRANAV

My First Post: Making Friends

SO, this is my first blog post. UHHHHHHH, hi, my name is Pranav, I'm currently in middle school (almost in high school, where, if what I've heard is anything true, the STRUGGLE GETS REAL!), and yeah. That's me. And this is my blog, where, the title is basically what it is all about.  Okay, so, yeah, welcome to my blog type thing. Onto the actual post...

<sidenote> I'm really lazy, so I will be using CAPS LOCK instead of italics to italicize stuff <sidenote>

I'M going to be moving in some months, not a huge move but nevertheless a move. New house = new school. And that means new friends. Problem is, making friends is hard, especially when you don't have anyone you know in the environment where you want to make friends. For example, in elementary school, where you are thrown into a new and confusing world filled with other similar 5-year-olds. However comma , 5-year-olds have basically don't have any preconceived notion of who's cool, who's weird, etc. Everyone is the same. Now that I'm thinking about it, everything should be like that. In everything, everyone should be viewed as the same, as long as they ARE equal. If they aren't equal in, say, skill set, (one may be creative whereas the other may be formulaic and boring) then you SHOULD differentiate. But I digress.

MIDDLE school is EVEN EASIER to make friends, due to your previous elementary school friends.

<sidenote> my friend Samantha made an excellent blog post about her experience about elementary school friendships and stereotypes and stuff at samtheantworld.blogspot.com <sidenote>

ANYWAYS, these previously made friends know other people that are from other elementary schools that feed into the same middle school. In other words, going with the old saying, "My friend's friends are my friends," or something along those lines, your friends know others, and there are bound to be people who will become your friends in middle school.

BACK to the present now. Moving. Friends. High school. Yeah. So, in high school, especially in high school, I have a feeling that everyone already knows everyone else. I feel as though this is a part of human psychology. Like, everyone is better than you at everything. Kind of the inherent negativity bias and pessimism naturally instilled within us.

<sidenote> negativity bias may be a recurring subject on this blog, so I suggest you acquaint yourself with it using this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias <sidenote>

MAYBE it's just me, but I'm kinda scared of making new friends next year in high school. Elementary and middle? Easy as cake. High school? Kill me now. JUST KIDDING, but seriously, it feels way more daunting than it should be. Maybe this is just the stuff of movies and fiction, but social groups and cliques and such will most likely be present in my new school. It'll most definitely be hard to fit in with these circles of friends.

AT my middle school currently, I have quite a few friends, most of whom have the same/similar interests as me. Fine arts (band/choir/orchestra), studies (we all are taking high school courses in middle school, cuz ASIAN PRIDE, BABY!), and extra-curricular activities (debate, swimming, chess, I dunno, any other random thing that we do). You see, this is a pretty studious group, A Mon Avis.

<sidenote> Instead of saying/writing "In my opinion" like normal people do, I'll be saying "A Mon Avis" because 1) It's French! Who doesn't like French!, and 2) when I'm reading what I'm typing in my head, A Mon Avis kinda rolls of the tongue, in contrast with the cumbersome, clunky "In My Opinion" with all its syllables and just NOISES in general. <sidenote>

WHERE I'm moving, I'm scared that it won't be the same. Sure, there will be the nerds, and the jocks, and such but at the middle school I'm at currently, being smart is COOL and what is expected. New school, new standards... different standards, I should say. I'll probably be the only freshman in a class of sophomores, in math and orchestra at least. Also, I won't have the same smart people around me, positively impacting my life.

HOWEVER comma, now that I think about it, there will be people like me. There's bound to be at least one person like me, right? I just need to hope that I have at least one class with at least one short brown nerd. Yes, there's just gotta be at least one person.

TL;DR Okay thanks, writing this has helped me realize that my fear of being a social outcast in high school with no friends because of my semi-unique set of interests is unreasonable, because there is, statistically speaking (not really, but just roll with it), at least one person like me in my new school.

--PRANAV