I recall a time in Sophomore, no, Junior year in my Physics class. I had my atrocious mobile combination of a cheap Android and some off – brand airpods that came with many, many, issues (and I’m not bashing android – the product I had was old and outdated), but nonetheless I went on my merry way enjoying my music. One day I sat down and the guy next to me, seeing my earbuds, told me that I looked like the kind of person who Old Town Road (by Lil Nas X., for anyone who somehow hasn’t heard of it at this point), as a rap / hip hop song. I smiled politely, tilted my phone screen on Spotify, and showed him this –

He seemed taken quite aback, and it left him speechless. While I might be able to turn this blog into a psychology / don’t judge a book by it’s cover type deal, I want to say WHY I listen to this music – and why everyone should give it a shot.

Metal, like anything, comes in different flavors and sizes. The spectrum starts around AC/DC ish at rock n roll to (debatably) heavy black metal, something like Rings of Saturn (which I don’t even really listen to). Whatever mood or however heavy you may want your tunes to be, the genre probably has something for you. I’ll pop some recommendations at the end for those of you who might want to take a swing at it.

Music in general, at least for me, can get me in tune with my emotions and feelings. While a hearty riff and some Screamo may not put pep in anyone’s step, I listen to it when I’m driving, bumping around in the halls, or doing work. That way I can get all the negative out when I’m alone, and be a little more positive when I interact with others. An interesting and debatable take, but that’s the way I do it.

I also find a ton of metal and rock to have meaning behind the lyrics. There may be an obvious mood, nut there’s inspiration and a message to be had with almost any song. I was looking at an interview of ….. Travis Scott (took me a sec to remember) and his take on Mo Bamba (another hit rap today, used to be anyways). (Why am I writing this in parentheses? You know this…). He was really just freestyling and listing off bars he came up with on the spot, and there Mo Bamba in there, as he told a friend of his he would use his name in a song. Bam, an instant hit. The Amity Affliction (MY ALL TIME FAVORITE), wrote their most popular song based on a tragic event personal to the band. The lead scream vocalist Joel Birch, had drank too much and became overheated, suffering a seizure. They were on tour headed to Pittsburgh at the time giving it it’s name, and the song is how he felt afterwards. Many different stories from bands on many different levels have given the spirit of meaning to their songs as well.

People who have never listened to metal before, also tend to enjoy some of it. I’ll put a link to a pretty funny reaction video here . (yes, profanity.)

THE SONG THAT MADE ME LOVE AMITY – here. (I am not responsible for your new addiction)

Next time you’re feeling lost, distraught, or hopeless, give Pittsburg a go for a little boost here.

Little pissed? Five Finger Death Punch has a remedy here.

Feeling up and at em’? Keep it going with Avenged Sevenfold here.

Need something a little closer alternative? A Day To Remember has you covered here.

Maybe – a little closer still to alternative? A newcomer to my liked playlist, All Time Low here.

Not rock, but, one of my favorites nonetheless – Hollywood Undead. Well, ok. Nu Metal,  Rap/Rock. Here’s a hit.

Spice is the spice of life, go experiment!

I know some people may have read this title, shook their heads, maybe banged their head on the desk a couple times, and kept scrolling. For some, it’s quite an easy concept. However, due to some recent events, I have realized it may not be so clear to others. I was working a couple of weeks back, when I got my new car, and everyone was asking about it. My go-to reply was I really enjoy it (and I genuinely do), but, of course, it is a used car, about 15 years old, and it naturally comes with imperfections. Something I have to fix is the lean mixture in the engine. If you’re reading this and nodding your head, you know exactly what I’m talking about and why it could be so problematic (though my case is likely minor). For those who are confused, like one of my co-workers, I tried to explain in laymen’s terms, until I eventually said ‘cars are powered by tiny explosions’, and – mind – BLOWN. She had no idea that that was how cars work (in very simple terms). And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make fun of anyone for lack of knowledge, I have plenty of a lack myself. However, I do believe it is important for people to understand the basics of an object that they see thousands of per day, and likely use at least once per day. The car, and how it works.

Where to begin….. I suppose the gas tank is best. If you don’t know how a car works, you should at least know you put gas in it, and you get power out. An easier concept to grasp. But how? From the tank, a mechanism applies pressure to the liquid fuel to move it towards the engine in front via gas lines. Here, those lines connect to the top of the engine. Pause on the fuel. Under the hood of your car, somewhere in some form, you have an intake. The engine pulls a constant vacuum, sucking air in through this intake. This feeds into the intake manifold, again, attaching to the top of your engine block (where the fun stuff happens). Now with two components ready to be mixed (oxygen and fuel), small nozzles called valves control the mixture of air and fuel, and release them into a chamber called – drum roll – the combustion chamber. This is where a spark plug, a small device, creates a spark and lights that air/fuel mixture and forces a hefty piece of cylindrical metal – called a piston – downwards. Shortly after, due to the cycle of the engine, the depleted mixture is pushed out of the combustion chamber, and out your exhaust. Back to the piston. This piston is attached indirectly to the crankshaft of your car, which turns that aggressive downward motion into rotational motion – and through series of gears and connections, turns the wheels of your car.

And there you have it. I cut a few corners and left out a lot of parts for the sake of time and simplicity, but this is fundamentally how your car works (motorcycles, generators, and other gasoline engines too!).

Hopefully I taught someone something new today, and if I did, I’d love to hear it or any other questions you might have. Or, if you read this post to confirm your thoughts or to see how much I know, let me know how I did.

“In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.”– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Keep questioning out there.

If you asked me on new years of 2020 what I thought the year would look like, I would say – bowling, fishing, cross country, start of senior year. Everything in the middle, the same as it always has been. Friends, family, video games, more video games, and working my horrendous job. Except, we all know what happens. The last day of in – person school, assignments in the morning, locked down . . . what do I do? When is that? More random school work . . . more video games. We’re in a pandemic. It didn’t really hit me until towards the end of Junior year that there was a pandemic, it was real, and things wouldn’t be changing for a long time.

I’ve always thought of myself as the out there guy, just a couple of close friends, and some hobbies. Never really valued time with others. This past year has definetley changed that. I still played plenty of games with friends over voice chat, and had a Cain family zoom not too long ago, but something about not wreaking havoc on downtown with your friends can’t be replaced.

While the social distancing and isolation has been extremely dull, I believe plenty of good came out of this year, and I’m definetley appreciative of it. One small thing, snow days being a thing of the past? GOOD. I want to get out of school on time, I want my summer! Also, I lost my job. Nothing on the people there, but one of the best things that happened to me this year. I was working 4 hour weeks and making ok pay, but it was far from what I needed. A lot of people know now I work at Portillo’s, and I’m making about what I did at my last job and I work 25 – 30 hour weeks. It’s definitely hard, some nights I work until 11 even, but I now make in a month what I didn’t even make in a year.

I’ll dip into 2021 (right now), as what happened in 2020 recently affected my life in a big way. Going along with my job, I finally got what I’ve been saving for the past 6 months. If you read one of my previous blog posts, it was about cars I was considering buying. I was set on a mustang, and after test driving a few, I got what I thought was the best balance of aesthetics and room (the terminator body style I was talking about – TINY interior, not the ideal choice for people 6ft +).  Anyways, here’s a picture of the new ride.

Yeah, 2021 sucked. We all got more distant from friends and family, some of us got covid, a good handful lost jobs. The decade isn’t starting out strong, but we learn from hardships and mistakes. The best thing we can do is be there for each other now and in the future, but most importantly, the more we can take away from the  past year, the better off we will all be.

I’m not a huge sports guy – that is to say, I’m not a big fan of your average sports. Heck, I don’t really care on who wins the super bowl this weekend and I don’t plan on watching it. I wrote a blog how at times this has been very inconvenient, but on the bright side – I find them a whole lot more interesting and exhilarating. Everybody knows that motorcyles are cool looking, fast, and their riders tend to be unruly on the streets – but when you put a bunch of bikes on a track, it turns into a whole different ballgame (for lack of a better word) – I introduce to you – MotoGP.

MotoGP is a wide scale sport – while it’s following is smaller, a circuit takes place at several locations all over the world for most of the year. While I have never been to a race in person, it would be totally amazing to spectate. Why?

It’s a fast paced sport. Track athletes are fast, sure – I’m not sure I could run 15 – 20mph or whatever it may be.  However, there’s a stark contrast when you see that the average speed of a MotoGP racer is 120mph, reaching speeds of up to 160mph on a back straight (where all the spectators are sitting, naturally – so you get to see the maximum potential).

Not only do they ride fast, but they crash fast too. It sounds mean, but often times the rider is fine after a wipe out at high speeds. The track and the area around it is totally flat for usually a couple hundred feet, and there are no hard immovable objects to hit. This usually leads to the motorcyclist sliding for a good distance, and getting back in the race if their bike is ok, or after mounting their backup. Marc Marquez is a shining example of this, as he crashed, immediately got up, ran back to the pits, and retrieved his second bike – I’ll insert the link to the video. And let’s be honest – if everyone is ok, who doesn’t enjoy a good wipe out?

Anyone can race in MotoGP as well. Unlike many other sports that require the fittest, most renowned athletes, MotoGP just wants one thing – someone who knows how to ride a bike. As long as you have a machine, a team (a sponsorship, the hardest thing to get), and skills, you can find yourself on the track with some two wheel legends.

In this day and age, it proves to be a useful sport as well – one where it offers no advantage to being male or female. While there are currently no women in MotoGP, there’s no plain rule that says men only, or a women’s league must be created. Should any women chose to participate, it would be fair – vs a sport like football or hockey where men tend to be stronger athletes, and something cool to see.

Not to mention, most motorcycle riders have great attitudes and at the end of the day, are in it for the fun. Everybody knows motorcycles can lean crazy low, and here are two racers pushing the limit.

So watch some videos, maybe learn some names and check out more of what the world of moto has to offer – and maybe you could be the next Valentino Rossi one day.

I really want to go to Canada. This is a shame now of all times, because of Covid (this has caused Canada and many other countries to close their borders). While last summer for me would have been opportune, I can always hope for this upcoming year. But what exactly do I want to do up north?

For one, I am an avid mountain biker. I’ve been on two wheels almost my entire life, learning to ride a bike at 4 and learning to ride a  dirt bike at 5. It’s always been a passion of mine because there’s no real limit to the sport and it’s always a great exercise. You can find something close to that limit, however, northwest in British Columbia, at a resort named Whistler Mountain. In the winter, it is most commonly a ski and snowboard resort, but in the warm weather they turn it into a mountain biking paradise. At 7,000 feet of elevation, you and your bike get taken to the top (whichever peak you prefer) and get to bike down, so its all fun and no work. As far as difficulty, Whistler provides. Even if you only recall riding a bike from your early youth, you can even rent a bike and putz around on the green trails and have a fun time doing it. For more experienced riders like myself, they have both challenging single track (a narrow and technical riding style) or wide open, flowing dirt jump trails. My goal is to one day ride A-Line top to bottom – 1.5 miles of heart pumping slopestyle, 50 jumps in total. That is of course, spending a couple days riding the rest of the park.

While mountain biking for me is certainly enough to warrant a 20 hour car ride, there’s plenty of other things I would enjoy while I was up there. Fishing, for instance, is another one of my passions, as you can find fishermen (and fish) almost everywhere.  On a previous trip I took a couple of years with some good buddies, we canoed up in the boundary waters between the US and Canada. I of course brought a fishing pole, as these are some of the most untouched waters on the planet. I had an amazing time canoeing, camping, hanging out, and catching some butterball bass. Right now, however, in the winter season, is when salmon come to spawn in rivers all over the place. While some species (coho being the most popular) can be caught in Lake Michigan around the Chicago area, many more types come to spawn in Canada and in many more numbers. I don’t have a specific idea of where I would go, but if you can find a river that feeds into a large lake, you can likely find some 20 pound giants to take home.

Among other things, Canada also offers amazing scenery with mountains, something I would likely take advantage of and go on some long hikes. Being mountainous in places, this often leads to curvy roads – roads which (i have heard) are extremely fun to ride on motorcycles which would be a whole other trip on its own, but I don’t think Canada is going anywhere soon, so I can wait. Even if eagerly.

I’m stepping a bit out of my comfort zone with this one.

I don’t often like to discuss how I’m feeling with people, most of the time it’s irrelevant, or even I myself don’t care. But, I feel talking about why this year in particular has been rough for me might actually help me get down to the bottom of…. a very persistent and annoying issue. I can’t seem to focus no matter what I do, and I need to fix it so that I can finish strong this year.

On any other year – heck – last year might’ve been my best – I could always focus in our building as in – inside NNHS. I used every scrap, every second, to get my work done, in class, during lunch, in the entire hour I had every morning because my bus just arrived that early. As miserable as getting to school at 6:42-ish in the morning was, I could always be productive somehow. Some may call it cramming in work or procrastination, but I call it productivity. The case this year, however, is different. Whenever I get off of zoom, weather class ended early or just when it was scheduled to, I just throw in the towel. As much as I’d like to sit there and crank out my work like an exemplary student, I go off and do completely and utterly mindless tasks that waste my time and accomplish nothing.

Its not that the school day has gotten longer – its actually gotten shorter by almost 2 hours with an asynchronous day on Monday. The workload hasn’t changed – about 2, sometimes 3, hours of work to do per night (1 if I’m lucky), but absolutely 0 – that I’ve done – so far this year.

So is there a reason? Or are all the teachers right about the dreaded ‘Senoritis’?

As it turns out, I might not be alone, as a quick google search presented me with a seemingly reputable article of EXACTLY why this might be happening.

Understood.org, my site of choice, is a site composed of members who have kids of their own that require alternative learning methods, and they have come up with an article about why exactly e-learning could present some issues.

I think I want to set up a hammock in my backyard to do school in. That would be cool. Don’t know how long it would last, we’ve only had a little bit of good weather this week, then it’ll be back to crap. Might be internet issues too. Research required. 

There’s 8 points and a lot of explaining, so I’ll pick just a few and save myself and anyone else some time

1. Lack of Schedule – While there is a calendar for each week of school, from day to day and week to week, our zooms last different times, and the method of teaching frequently changes to accommodate E Learning. Lack of schedule, for some like myself, tends to lead the mind away from a ‘here and now’ mindset – anytime or no time at all may be for the work at hand.
2. Distractions – They’re all around us at home. Home is where we do the things we enjoy doing. No offense Mrs. Trowbridge – but school doesn’t make my top 50 list out of the 30 total things I probably do here.
3. The In-person aspect – teachers and friends are amazing resources, both for help and keeping you in check. With E – Learning, you’re left to your own devices. Another thing that’s not my strong suit.
4. Not Enough Sleep – …..
5. No Change In Scenery – No doubt, a bell ring, some leg stretching, some bathroom using, and some new rooming is a chance for your mind to reset, clear, and focus on what’s coming next.

650 words already? I thought this whole blogging thing would be miserable because I don’t usually go and talk on a whim, but here we are. Wait, Colin, didn’t you do blog # 2? …Oh yeah…. why am I writing this blog?…. Oh yeah…. 

So what do I need to – focus – on in order to improve my focus? The answer seems pretty clear. ‘Attend’ school from 7:35 to 1:30 each day. Weather that’s in zoom or not, use the hour and a half to build a structure, and develop a ‘here and now mindset’.

Get somewhere where distractions are minimalized. I tried my room at the beginning of the year, but my internet there cause me to disconnect multiple times, so right now I’m in the living room. That hammock idea in the back yard seems really appealing. Maybe the basement if that doesn’t work.

Mix it up. In passing periods, get something to drink, do a quick exercise, possibly socialize a bit. Keep things fresh, and don’t give yourself a mindwash by staying put for 6 hours.

My next blog may not be about this topic, but I’d definitely like to follow up in it, and at least report my findings.

Come to think of it, the basement would be a good winter idea….

Until next time

– Mentori (Colin Cain)