Sports : Extreme Ones

xtreme sports like street luging, skateboarding on rails and ramps, and snow boarding off nearly impossible jumps are hotter today than they have ever been before. The athletes who pursue these challenging activities often become as dedicated as Olympians and spend hours every day practicing and improving their technique in order to be able to enjoy the thrill that only making the perfect ollie or dropping a hill on a buttboard can bring. Extreme athletes often refer to the adrenaline rush of competing as being “amped,” and many say that there is no other feeling in the world that is as satisfying. For most of these rough and tumble athletes, part of the appeal of extreme sports is the danger.

Unlike sports that are regulated by official certified judges and require the athletes to wear protective gear and perform with ship shape equipment, extreme sports competitions sometimes include relatively unprotected athletes competing on somewhat ramshackle paraphernalia, like luge boards made out of skateboards with plywood additions. These conditions lead to greater thrills for many of the participants, because the more dangerous a situation is the more adrenaline the body produces, leading to the feeling of being “amped.” However, the long term damage that results from the kinds of injuries that many extreme athletes endure often leaves these enthusiastic men and women feeling less than thrilled. Whether or not the excitement of extreme sports is worth the danger is something that nobody can decide but the athlete who is putting his or her body on the line. However, if you or somebody in your life is thinking about joining the hardcore world of extreme sports, it is a good idea to do some research into what common injuries are, and how they can be prevented.

Often, wearing a helmet or certain kinds of padding can make the difference between ending up in the hospital after a wipe-out and walking away with a few pesky bruises. The hazards of every sport are unique, so the kinds of kneepads that a skateboarder favors might not be very much help to a street luger. The only protective gear that will really help an athlete is the gear that is specifically appropriate to his or her sport, so before you put any money into protective gear, read as much as you can about the hazards you are likely to face, and try to get some firsthand advice from experienced athletes in the field you want to be a part of. Many extreme athletes don’t bother with the kind of protective gear that they should be wearing, in part because they worry that kneepads or elbow pads will decrease their cool factor. However, taking care of your body is as important for an extreme athlete as it is for any athlete, if not more so. Even if chucking bales might not seem as exciting with a helmet as it is without one, if you protect yourself you can always be sure that you will have the chance to take another crack at your favorite extreme challenge.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY : RECOLLECTION

Alright then, truthfully I have had zero encounters with the unknown although in my years living in boarding school I did heard a myriad of paranormal stories and encounters. Some are very similar and have many different versions. Its almost like an urban legend you know, one that is passed down from one generation to another and is subject to change. Since I have no personal story to write about, I will share with you one of the stories from my boarding school days.

The first story goes like this, once upon a time in an unnamed boarding school two girls was eagerly waiting for their respective parents to take them home since their school was unexpectedly closed due to some technical problems.The two girls were the few remaining ones that had yet been picked up by their parent. When night time came, one of the girls got a phone call from their parents saying that they may arrive late or tomorrow since their are in the middle of something.Frustrated she went to her dormitory while the other girl called her parents and they informed her that they will be there shortly. Excited with the news the girl waited outside the school. Meanwhile, the girl which her parent could not come went outside to get some fresh air and then the saw it. Shockingly to her surprise she saw her parents outside calling and coming towards her, scared that they might not be her real parents but some mischiveous spirit trying to trick her she immediately ran away from them hysterically while the two apparitions followed her.

Back to the other girl, after a couple of minutes waiting she saw from a distance what seems to look like her parents waving at her so she went towards them. But as she try to get nearer her parents suddenly seemed further and further. So she kept chasing them, while feeling abit confused girl. As she gets further away from the school, she received a phone which to her horror is her actual parent telling her that they had just arrived outside school. Panicked, she ran with all her might back to school. As for the other girl, she got tired of all the running and tumbled down the floor, as the two apparitions came close they ask her why she is running away from her. To her relief they told her that they may have arrive late because it was Thursday and as usual they are attending the citing of 'Surah Yassin'. So in the end both of them managed to go home safely for the most part.

Social Issue: Morality Lost

On the present day, we are plagued with increasing social issues among the youths (both teenagers and young adults alike). Abortions, gangterism, drug abuse and such have only increase from time to time even with all the awareness campaigns, you have to admit that its not getting any better. Alas, I am not to talk about those but the reason behind these problems, the disease which bring these blight, the root of all this evil. I am talking about the deteriorating moral compass or what we call conscience.

For those who don’t know, moral compass is a metaphor used to describe the sanctity of the mind and rational thinking. It is this invisible hand that dictates our behavior and how we react in certain if not most situations in life. A pure minded youth would most likely live their life positively, without pride or prejudice, doing things for the good of it and not for worldly benefits, being a both dutiful child and student. However when a person's mind is corrupted and their moral compass distorted, they began seeing the world in a different, more sarcastic way. They become selfish, self-centered and stubborn with increasing exposure to corruption. They take things lightly and do not consider what others may feel due to their action. These morally numb groups of people are the ones that contributed to the existence and increment to the social issues today. Let us look on its cause and effect.

The cause is pretty simple but its effect is as deep as a tumor. Like the phrase "See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil", these three factors affect our moral compass greatly. This is the very reason why the censorship of the media needs to be enforced and not be taken lightly, why kids should not watch adult rated movies or programs and why parents must safeguard the internet boundaries in their home and cybercafés ban minors from entering. Any and all reading materials that contain explicit use language or terms must be kept away from the young ones for this very purpose, to ensure the purity of mind within the youths. These days the restrictions do not seem strict or people just ignore it for their own gain. The distribution of inappropriate materials to minors has caused an immature exposure to negative and lucid thoughts thus create discord within their mind and corrode their conscience. With this they become more impulsive and unstable as their judgement becomes more and more clouded.

When all these negative thoughts combine the effects are socially catastrophic. They become rebellious and began disobeying their elders, through this, social issues such as bullying and gangsterism arises. Not only is that, but the social barriers between genders that keep them in order dissolved by the idea of ‘freedom’ spread through uncensored media which led to birth of out-of-wedlock children and abortions. When these youth are stressed with their life either due to problems at school or at home they began to search for a way to release stress, mostly in dangerous and destructive ways as they had seen in the media thus leading to problems such as drug abuses. These are but the beginning of much more chaos and disorder that is bound to appear in the near future. Authorities need to reinforce the current media censorship and parents need to be more watchful of their children if any of these problems are to be solved effectively. For now we youths need to resist as much as we can from these temptations that had ‘haunted’ ever since the existence of the mass media.