Hypnotism

So my Grad Night for High School was in our gym, and I was thinking how lame it was going to be.
It turned out to be the most awesome time of my life ever. I'll go into detail on another post of my whole slew of events that happened yesterday.

So for every Grad Night at the school I go to, the staff always hires a hypnotist. And at my school there's a billion rumors about how it actually works and what people have done. Also none of the events were really ever posted on the public (probably for a number of reasons).
Ya I was a bit skeptical if this thing could actually work.

And I can tell you one thing, It Does.

After seeing what the guy had my friends and classmates do. I can pretty much tell you hypnotism is real and the people I saw weren't faking it. The first things the hypnotists had my classmates do still made me doubt because you can generally fake it. Like you can fake acting cold or hot. The later ones though knocked me off my seat and made me believe. After knowing my friend Juan for 4 years and him generally being a guy, I know for a fact he wouldn't take off his shoes and paint his toenails in front of the school.

Hypnotism really is psychology at one of its finest. You really wouldn't expect someone to be at the mercy of what someone else is telling them, but it happens. There's a 6 minute process that all my classmates who volunteered had to go through with the hypnotist breathing in and out and such. He prompted them about random events happening and have them imagine it like flying through the sky and falling into the sea and doing things with your eyes and looking in the middle of your forehead with your eyes shut. I tried it out myself in the audience and I stopped because I had this feeling like I was getting lost in my own mind and I might actually be hypnotized if I continued on.

Then two things happened. People either got hypnotized or they didn't.
If they weren't you could tell they weren't and escorted off stage. It's basically due to the fact they weren't comfy what they were doing, they pretty much were conscious of where they were and what was happening. They weren't really comfy where they were. That's pretty much what I gathered when I asked my friends and classmates who sat down
The people who were hypnotized were just asleep and just looked knocked out, no matter what the hypnotist did. And once we all started cheering and they still didn't wake up, we all immediately learned that hypnotism was real and these guys were screwed.

What ensued was an hour of fun. It felt like 5 minutes to them, Inception? I think so. It's really shocking and hilarious seeing people you know doing things that they wouldn't do. No scratch that. They wouldn't do what any normal person would do.

But they did get something out of it. I didn't think this could work either, but at the end the hypnotist made our classmates sleep again. And he told them that when they "woke up" they would be re-energized (we all wish we had that because it was four in the morning), and that they would have a good night's rest (another one we all wished he did to us).

And right now I'm look amongst, a bunch of my classmates complaining about how tired they are, myself included. Except my friend Juan who said he and the best sleep ever along with another classmate of mine who said something very similar.

So if you ask my if hypnotism is real, I'll pretty much say yes.

I'm going to miss these guys...

End of the World May 21st

So during Finals, a lot of people were talking about the world ending.

There's actually a billboard, exactly like the one pictured above, on the highway near my home.
I didn't bother taking a picture of the one where I live:

1. Because I didn't want to die in a car accident, bringing my judgement day earlier than what the billboard says.
2. It's nothing, but a stupid advertisement for a radio station (most likely a religious one)

Really I don't believe in any of these Ending of the World prophecies. I would say most of them are pretty untrue and pointless.

When people in my class were talking about how the world was going to end May 21st (Today), no one was taking it seriously. Like it's so random and out of place for the world to end on such a day. If the world was ending, I think there would be a bit more obvious hints like the skies darkening and other such abnormalities.

Well there is no Hellfire and Brimstone yet here. If the world does end now, I guess the conspirators were right, but I would not CARE. I have no regrets in life, I'm happy with what I have accomplished in my life and hope that I'm happy in my next one.

My Mind's Finally Cleared of Stressful Clutter

I'm finally done with my Finals!
It felt like such a long week of studying and worrying, but I'm finally finished! And with pretty decent grades no doubt. But ya I'm technically done with High School! It's official on May 28th on my graduation ceremony. I still can't fathom it that I'm almost off to college. It is such a surreal feeling that in 3 months I'll be leaving so many things and people behind. But it's best to just stay in the present and enjoy the time I have left and make the most our of them!
So ya I'm back (again). So I'll be going crazy with content with all this time I have again!

Going Incognito for a Week

Alright so I just got back from an awesome Prom and in recovery mode. This week I'm going to be taking Finals so I'll mostly be studying and getting ready for graduation. So no Blogger for at least a week, but I'll try to post what I can if I get the time you never know!

O ya so I was pondering and thinking over this so I'll connect my facebook, tumblr and twitter to this blog so I'll start adding my contact info for them.

So if you want to chat, agree, disagree with me directly not in my comment box feel free to add me. And you can see a lot more of my less artistic photography. And please tell me if you're friending me from this info on blogger on a message, because I've got a big stalker (no lie) and he's been making a different account to try and reach me it's very creepy.

Tumblr: tehviray.tumblr.com
Facebook: just search in through my email gviray@pacbell.net and the picture is the same one I have on my profile here under Gabriel Viray
Twitter: Viray707

So ya I'm heading towards a big event in my life, see you again blogger in a week!

Music

I enjoy that feeling when you turn on your CD player, cassette player, ipod, zune, computer, etc. and playing that first song of the day.

There's that moment of utter bliss when whatever song your listening to just runs through your body and can even control it. The catchier the song is to you the more you're inclined to sing or tap along. When you are doing homework you're more concentrated (depending on how you work of course). A song helps convey the mood of a movie scene. It helps us athletes concentrate and pump us up. A song can make your day. It can brighten your mood. Music does a whole variety of good things for our body and mind.

It's awesome when you find that good song or artist. Like when I'm browsing through itunes or listening to 8tracks and I find a good song, something clicks in my head. At first I'm initially interested in the song, then it begins to grow on me and I find myself playing it again just to savor the moment again.

Here's how I work with the genres:

• Pop: I use this kind of music to initially get me through my morning and on the drive to school. It's also good for those fill-in songs during the day when I can't make up my mind on what music to play. The songs vary on how I like them, and I usually delete this music after at least a year for new stuff.

• Alternative/Rock/Punk/ Heavy Metal (Not too heavy for me): One of my favorite genres of music. It can be anything really from catching pop bands to heavy screaming. I use these songs for a lot of things every day it would take another list to name them all. It usually takes longer for me to replace these songs like at least a year and some just are permanently glued to my playlist.

• Country: Not my favorite genre, but there's so really good ones out there. I don't usually own any of the songs myself, but it's nice to hear good ones on the radio.

• Classical: O where to begin! My absolute favorite genre! There's just one thing I use for it though concentration and thought. Right now I'm playing this song: Escape! Phillip Glass
  I often get lost in classical music while I'm doing my homework of laying on my bed. Really what I like about it is that there's no words (unless you include Opera in this category) so you can use your imagination to describe the feelings the song portrays. I can go on and on about it, but for list's sake onward!

• Jazz: A lot of it is like classical, but with a different feel. It's a bit more chill and upbeat than classical. I dunno whether it's my favorite or not. But I do like it and its a breath of fresh air at times from my classical playlists.

• Rap/ Hip-Hop/ R&B: Okay I mostly hate Rap and Hip-Hop. But there are a few songs within the genre I do like and some of it is actually fun especially like ones with the specific dances like Jerking and Cat Daddy. Kid Cudi and some of Kanye's songs are pretty genius along with some others. The genres fairly new compared to others and it still has potentialR&B I tend to like more than the others because of it's lighter chiller tone and has that pop feel you can't help but like.

• Parody: What more can I say than a lot of these are awesome! Weird Al is a genius and I have to admit some of his songs sound better than the original. Others I have no idea how people can come up with them Example: Assumption song Hilarious!
  It's sad I learned all the lyrics to this song and can sing it by heart.....

• Covers: While we are on the topic of remakes of songs, there's a lot of covers of songs out there. You can just type in any popular song on youtube and for sure there will be an acoustic cover of it. It's not the most original of most genres, but it's unique in which someone takes a song and puts a new spin on it.

That's most of the genres I can think of.
Now for the other side of the spectrum:
The EVIL side of music.

There's bad things music can do. It can be rather annoying. For example I hate people who blast their music with the bass up. I can be guilty of it too at times due to peer pressure. It's just one of those things that it's fun doing, but you hate it when it happens to you.
Some songs are overplayed and some shouldn't be played at all. Rebecca Black you are the music industry's Bubonic Plague, but at least you make me appreciate real music.
Most of it is pirated (guilty) and many of the artists don't get the proper credit they deserve.

But despite it's faults, music is such a beautiful thing. It's the human idea of mixing a bunch of sounds from practically anything and making art out of it. Just like art many people see beauty from different things. Someone may absolutely worship rap and think Classical music is boring. And I think Rap is crap (haha) and of course like Classical music. Both genres are amazing in their own way it's just both of our opinions whether we like them or not.

My final thought on music. I honestly think music is also the voice of God (or fill in whatever you believe in even if it's nothing). Something so beautiful and so able to form into so many things must come from something so perfect as God.
Otherwise we wouldn't have put so much work into making it even more beautiful and making it a part of our lives.

So thanks for reading my perspective and thoughts in the wonderful world of sounds, thoughts and feelings we call Music.
Now if you excuse me I have to get back to some homework with the Hans Zimmer's Inception soundtrack!

College Bound!

So I have approximately 3 weeks left of High School and about 5 months left with most of my friends, family, and swim career.
I'm dead set on my college of choice University of California Merced. After getting accepted there as well as several tours, shadowing, and spending a night there I made my choice. What's even greater, I've got three of my best friends since grade school coming along with me! And another one is going to a University just an hour away.
My High School grades are great and I'm for sure graduating.
Wow... High School, well.... Life in general is just speeding by...

Really High School, you've been great and I've gotten many great friends and memories out of you, and I'll miss you in due time, but I'm totally ready too ready for college!

Only gripes I have going to college:

• Smaller room and no more comfy bed at home -____- (That place has been like my throne)
• No awesome home cooking.... Well time to get my body ready for a lot of cafeteria food and Hot Pockets XP. Thank goodness there's a gym.
• Ending of my swim career. There's no swim team or pool at the University... I've been swimming for 10 years, all of those under a club with the final four with High School as well, so it's going to be tough parting from competitive swimming.
• Parting from 90% of my friends. Besides the ones coming with me distance is going to make it tough from me seeing a lot of my friends... That's going to be tough.
• Parting from my family. My family can be annoying at times and I can get sick of them. But I'm definitely going to miss their company and having that parental guidance at times. 

No worries though I'll cope with all the bad things and I'll still be able to come back and visit everyone. It's not like I've been stranded on Mars.

Man but all this freedom of leaving the nest called Home...
High School prepared me for college.
College is preparing me to be somebody!
A phase of my life is ending and a new one is beginning. I'm definitely excited, World here I come!