The "Not So Beautiful" Iraq

Iraq is home to many people, most of which who do not know what a computer is.  The people do not have anywhere near the technology we have in the United States.  They are lucky to even have air conditioning, most of the houses do not and they stay cool by swimming in the rivers they also go to the bathroom in.  The summers get extremely hot; when I was there the hottest was 143 degrees Fahrenheit, want to talk about sweating profusely.  The electricity is scarce and does not work the majority of the time. 

It is all desert terrain and farm lands.  The crops do not grow very well, but they still try.  They live mostly on meat from any animal they can get ahold of.  Their houses are made out of mud, cow pies, and branches.  They do not have plumbing, some build an outhouse with a hole in the ground, but most of them just go in the river. 

The people for the most part are friendly.  They have invited us in their houses and given us what little food and drink they have.  They also thank us for being there and keeping the Al Qaida away because they are terrified of them.  The children can be friendly, but most of them are pretty hostile (at least towards us).  The people wear the same dresses and sandals on a daily basis.  They do not have the luxury of a washer and dryer like we do in America.  It is really sad how these people live. 

Iraq does not even have grocery stores, gas stations, or fast food joints.  To gas up their cars, they pull up to a guy on the side of the road who has jugs full of fuel, and he fills them up.  For groceries, they go too little stores in sheds to pick up things.  As for fast food places, you can forget about it.  The electricity is not on all day so they would not be able to function at all.

Overall, being to Iraq has made me humble and thankful for the things I do have and luxuries we all take for granted here in America.

Reading from Dreams & Inward Journeys

When I read the reading in Dreams & Inward Journeys about Stephen King and how he uses dreams to help with ideas for his books, and ultimately finish them, I was really amazed and impressed.  I honestly never thought to use dreams to help write.  It makes sense to use them because we have so many weird and unexplained things happen in our dreams; it would make writing so much easier and creative.  I personally do not have many dreams, so using dreams to help me write would not benefit me much.  Plus, most of my dreams are just normal routine things that I do throughout the day.  I do not have a crazy and outragous imagination like Stephen King. 

I was actually talking with my friend who is a writer about this article.  I had him read it and talked to him about it afterward; he was pretty shocked as well.  He said, he has used some of his dreams for ideas in his books as well, and that he will wake up in the middle of the night after a dream and write it down, so that in the morning he does not forget.

I also talked to my British Literature teacher about this entry.  He is not a big Stephen King fan, but was impressed with how he goes about writing.  He was literally shocked that the book IT would have been placed on the back burner if not for the dream he had to finish it (which also shocked me as well).

How Stephen King almost scratched IT and did not finish it reminds me of Aerosmith's Walk This Way song.  The band could not come up with a name for the song and was about to scratch it, but Steven Tyler went to see the Frankenstein movie that came out.  He got the name of the song from the assistant Fritz when he told the character to "Walk This Way."  Steven Tyler and the band changed a few of the lyrics around and what do you get?  A number two song on the charts and a crucial song that made the album number one.