The End :)

This blog has been interesting for me this semester.  When we first got it I was excited and thought about using it for personal purposes as well as for classroom purposes, but I decided that classroom purposes would be enough.  Part of me found writing 2 blogs a week to be very beneficial but another part of me felt that it was a complete waste of my time.

It was nice to get my feelings out in my blog.  There are some posts that were just words bottled up inside of me and then others that are just random crap.  I really enjoyed feeling caught up in the news because I knew I would have to write something that week for my blog.  I enjoyed reading the news because I always found random information and stories that I could ultimately relate to the class as well as all of my other classes. 

I also enjoyed being able to see other people’s views on things rather quickly.  If I wanted to see how people were responding to something someone said, I just have to log into my blog and I will see some.   It definitely made it much more accessible to show others how you are feeling about current issues and trends in our society. 

Part of me also felt that I was taking up important time that I could be doing something else.  To be perfectly honest, I’m doing this right now instead of studying for two big finals on Friday and a presentation that is due on Monday.  Some weeks when things got to be really hectic I found the blog to be really difficult.

I did notice that after this blog, I am much more self-conscious about my typing and grammar.  I hate the common misconception that because we are from the Midwest that we are just a bunch of redneck hillbillies who don’t know the ground from the sky.  I am very anal about things like that, and after this blog I have really started to notice it again. 

One thing I think I would do improve the idea of blogging is only require that students do one per week.  It can be really difficult to sit down and come up with two blogs for a week.  Only requiring one a week would be so much more convenient for those who don’t have a lot of free time in their schedule.  That way they still get the idea of blogging, they just do not have to do as much. 

I guess there is a chance that in the future I would blog again.  Frankly, it kinda feels like a more detailed version of Facebook.  It is still weird for me to completely grasp the idea of blogging, but there is a chance that later on down the line of life I could choose to blog again.  

Let the games begin

I’m so ready for this semester to be over. It’s been crazy and busy and it will be so nice to finally be able to see the summer.  I’ve got so much on my plate the next couple of weeks it’s making me crazy.  I’ve got observations for my education class that need to be typed up, as well as a powerpoint and presentation to have mostly completed by Monday (anyone who is an education major will totally understand.)  Then I have a student program due in my music class on Tuesday.  Then Wednesday I have a test for my education class and my last blog for this class is due.  I’ve already finished my math class so after Wednesday I’ll be finished with two classes.  Then on Thursday on dead day, I have a meeting for marching band for next year.  It’s so weird to already be talking about next year – I’ll be a junior!!!  Then first day of finals Friday I have a final in my history class as well as my music class.  Then Monday I have a presentation for my education class and I have to meet for band.  Because I am in one of the higher bands on the campus, I have to play at graduation so we meet a day during finals week to prepare for what we will be doing that day.  But after that meeting on Monday, I am done with my sophomore year of college!!! I can’t believe it is already so close to me being a junior in college.  It feels like just yesterday I was being dropped off by my parents.  But anyways, then I will be making my great trip back to Lebanon for the rest of the week.  Then I am coming down for the weekend for graduation on Saturday then it’ll be back home for the rest of the summer.  As of right now, I might have a job working at a daycare back home for the summer which would be great for me considering my major.  But I also have some big plans of working out over the summer as well.  When my boyfriend came back from his leave after boot camp, he had already lost over 20 pounds and it was guessed that he would probably lose more while he’s gone for these 3 months.  So I figured, if he is looking all nice and sexy now, I need to work out as well, to get myself going again.  Then we’ve got vacation in June.  While we’re just going to Branson for the week, we have so much planned.  From shows, to Silver Dollar City to even a Springfield Cardinals baseball game, it’ll be a great time to get away and spend some time with my family.  Then in July I turn 20 and in August Chris comes back home for good.  I can’t wait for my busy schedule to kick into gear.  

Another day that will live in history

So there is no question what the top story in the news this week is: Osama Bin Laden is dead almost 10 years after September 11^th, 2001.  Everyone has been talking about it and everyone has their own idea of what went down and everyone has their own opinion on the situation in general.  So let’s go through some of the facts.

As reported by CNN yesterday, Early Monday just outside of Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Osama was in his residence when U.S. forces entered.  The U.S. Navy Seals were the ones behind the operation and after 40 minutes, the al Qaeda leader along with four others were all killed on the residence.   A woman who was in the room with Osama and believed to be his wife was shot in the leg when she rushed U.S. troops as they came in.  “There was no telephone or Internet service at the dwelling, which was valued at more than $1 million.  Its occupants burned their trash rather than leave it out for collection as other area residents did.”   A total of five people were killed within the compound: two al Qaeda couriers on the first floor, a woman caught in their crossfire, Osama bin Laden and his son.

Fox News reported that “Usama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound was “built for deception,” with barricades and a falst wall apparently intended to confuse and stall intruders, a senior U.S. official told Fox News.  The official said the compound was constructed in anticipation of a “potential assault.” Every floor had barricades and what looked like the main door of the complex had a brick wall behind it.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted to CNN that “…we provided a great deal of information with great haste.”  Some top officials were the first to go public about the fight, including Brennan.  He said that during the assault “there was a female who was in fact in the line of fire that reportedly was used as a shield to shield bin Laden from the incoming fire.”  As soon as the news leaked, there were reports all over and every single one of them were different. 

One thing is certain: while it is a great thing that Osama bin Laden will not be able to harm us anymore, why are we rejoicing a death?  Christians to children to everyday people are rejoicing in the fact that a life was taken that day.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy he will never be able to hurt our country again, but I’m so tired of seeing “yay!! Osama bin Laden is dead.”  My friend posted this status and I really couldn’t have said it better myself, “As Christians should we be excited and celebrate murdering someone? Who are we as people to judge another mans death. We all deserve death according to God's law. So, I am not excited about osama's death cuz we all deserve the same thing.”  I understand that our country is safer but just because he is dead doesn’t mean the war is over and the troops are coming home.  Don’t get me wrong, I wish they could.  I’m praying my boyfriend doesn’t get deployed, but  it doesn’t mean that everything is right in the world again.  No matter how much we wish it was.  

So there is no question that the weather that has been happening in the South this week is something not like anything that has been seen  before.  An EF-5 tornado ripped through Alabama and literally left almost nothing standing.  As of right now there are over 300 innocent people have been killed by the storm and the number is only expecting to rise as more and more people are pulled from the debris. 

According to Fox News, “(this is)…the nation’s deadliest tornado disaster since the Great Depression.”  This quote is referring to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the disasters they are seeing for the first time in such a great magnitude.  Everywhere is stocking up on water and basic items anyone would need to survive during this difficult situation.  Fox also said, “The death toll from Wednesday’s storms reached 328 across the seven states, including 238 in Alabama, making it the deadliest U.S. tornado outbreak since March 1932.”  Tuscaloosa has seen almost 1000 people injured by the storm alone: there are 6 other states that were also affected by these storms.  One resident reported to CNN News that the storm was “like a silent monster.  It was just moving at a steady rate and demolishing everything in its path.”

According to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale) was first introduced in February of 1971 by Dr. T. Theodore Fujita.  His goal in categorizing these tornadoes was by their intensity and area and estimate a wind speed associated with the damage caused by the tornado.  The scale is an F0 is gale force winds, F1 is a weak tornado, F2 is strong, F3 is severe, F4 is devastating and F5 is incredible.   

On top of worrying about helping everyone affected by the tornado, there have been several eyes turned towards Athens, Alabama, where the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is located.  There has been no radiation leaking into the atmosphere that the workers knew of but the plant is remaining in safe shutdown mode just to be safe and until things in life are closer to back to normal. 

Just thinking about a storm as big as what everyone has talked about it almost unreal to really expect to happen in our world today.  Far too often, we are too naïve to ever think that something like that could happen to us. We see things like this in movies but we never expect it to happen in real life.  All over the internet are stories of people who went through this storm and it’s heartbreaking to hear some of them.  No one ever expected a storm to produce so much for such amount of time.  These types of tornadoes are uncommon and in the South they are even rarer. It’s scary to think how something as fast moving as a tornado can totally change these people’s lives forever and how far too often it does change everything these poor people know.    

Fed Up

So there are a few things that I am really tired of, so these will be my rant for the week. 

I’m tired of hearing about the Royal Wedding.  Yes, Prince William is now married to Kate Middleton and all that fun stuff, but there just comes a point when the media exhausts the story way too much, and there is no question that the point has well passed.  I won’t lie and say it wouldn’t be cool to have your wedding shown for the entire world to see, but when there are other stories, such as the tornadoes in the South that have taken the lives of over 300 American citizens, it just seems to me that we should be using our media to find ways to help those suffering Americans and not putting all of our attention on every detail of Kate’s dress or the fact that Prince William is choosing not to wear a wedding ring. 

Another thing that really has been bothering me lately is the lack of respect for individuals displayed by so many people.  People are willing to be the first to point fingers or name names when it involves someone else, but if it involves them, they keep quiet.  I’m tired of hateful and bitter people saying rude and unnecessary things about individuals they have never met, all because they are making assumption.  They will sit there and say anything they want, just to make themselves feel better.  And these horrible decisions are without a doubt rubbing off on our little children.  Children today have got to be some of the most disrespectful little things ever.  I am an education major so I spend 32 hours in Clinical Field Experiences and some of the children I see who do things or say things to these teachers are unreal.  It’s sad that because adults are so rude, it can often and most times does, influence what your child thinks of adults or other individuals. 

I wish there was a way I could change some of this.  Like the way children treat their elders as well as the way that they treat their teachers.  It’s sad to see the things these teachers do for these children, and the children thank them by saying horrible things to the teacher’s face as well as even behind their back.  It’s just ridiculous.

Oh and another thing I am fed up with: Charlie Sheen.   I am sick and tired of the man being ungrateful and just plain rude.  He wants attention and frankly he is getting exactly what he wants.  I think after the comments he made, the fact that Two and A Half Men was only stopped for the remainder of the season was nice; they could have just plain pulled the show for good.  So he’s lucky he didn’t completely lose it.  Ugh, people like this are a disgrace to humanity. 

But this is my rant for the week.  

Is it really the answer??

One thing that I absolutely hate hearing about is someone committing suicide.  No matter the person, no matter the situation, I absolutely hate thinking about it.  Just this week Fox News posted a story about two 14 year old girls, Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz, from Minnesota who had been bullied by their peers so much that they felt that suicide was the only way out.  So at a sleepover they created a suicide pact and they both decided to commit suicide.  One of the young ladies’ aunt claimed that her niece was teased about her appearance quite often.  She had been expelled from her school for defending her friend in a fight as well.  Her classmates claimed she was overweight and she had bright red hair, which they also used as a source of the teasing. 

The letters both girls left were very detailed.  ABC News reports that Haylee asked for everything pink, princess and butterflies.  There is no question that these girls had this entire thing planned.  Haylee’s aunt claimed that Haylee had even written on her Facebook wall that she really wanted out of the place she was in.  

But why at the age of 14 years old, or 8^th grade even, do we have students contemplating suicide?

Suicide is a topic a lot of people try to bury their heads in the sand about, but it seems that the more that people try to avoid the emotional topic, we are losing more and more people to it.  According the website Suicide Awareness  Voices of Education (SAVE), 1 in 65,000 children ages 10 to 14 commit suicide.  Suicide is the 3^rd leading cause of death for 15 to 24 years old in the United States.  The website also says that an average of one person dies by suicide every 16.2 minutes. 

Now looking at those numbers, those statistics are absolutely horrifying.  People are really killing themselves every 16.2 minutes?  Why would they want to? What would make them want to end their life completely?  I personally don’t think that I can ever say that I have been in the situation that the people I have surrounded myself with have ever come to that feeling, but I can’t be 100% sure either.  Suicide is not an answer to taking away the pain because in reality, it is only causing pain for the rest of the family that you are leaving behind and if you were married, leaving your spouse to handle everything on their own.  There is just no positive that comes out of it.

I wish there would’ve been someone who had noticed that these girls were in danger and that the teacher would have responded and done something  to prevent this situation from getting worse or having to end up where it did.  My heart goes out to the families of these two girls.   

Mission Accomplished :)

So my week this week was definitely not like anything I ever been through before.  I have mentioned previously that my boyfriend had left for boot camp 13 weeks ago; well this week is it.  The week I have waited for the past 3 months.  My Sunday was like usual and it consisted of church at home and spending time with the family before driving back to Joplin.  Monday I went to classes like usual and that night I packed.  Tuesday morning I woke up at 6:30am and my boyfriend’s parents came and picked me up.  We went to pick up his brother from work and we started the 1600 mile trip to San Diego.  We traveled all day Tuesday.  Like Joplin time, we started at 7:45am and drove until 12:30am but in time zone time, it was only 10:30pm.  That night we stopped in Holbrook, Arizona.  I swear all I saw over half the day were cacti and dirt along with a few mountains.  And then Wednesday morning after we leave I figure out that Holbrook is home to state penitentiary.  Definitely glad I found that out the next morning.  So Wednesday we got up early and continued driving.  We traveled almost 600 miles on Wednesday and by the afternoon we had finally arrived in San Diego, California.  I had never been to California before yesterday and let me just say it is completely different than little old Joplin, Missouri.  Then last night Chris’s brother and I spent the entire evening working on our t-shirts. 

So finally we get to today (Thursday.)  I know most people aren’t extremely clued in on what happens today in the life of a new Marine so let me explain.  Today is called “Family Day” here at the MCRD.  Chris was part of the Kilo Company and they were all to be graduating tomorrow.  Family Day consists of a 5 mile run then getting to spend the rest of the afternoon with our newest Marines.  So we get up at like 7 am here and get ready.  We then go listen to the drill instructors do some more talking.  Then we can see the guys run their 5 miles, which they follow with a shower and changing into their Charlie’s.   After this we get to see our guys for the first time in 3 months.  I told Chris I wasn’t going to be able to come for graduation tomorrow (which is also his 22^nd birthday) because I just had so much homework and work to get finished.  So as we are sitting in the bleachers waiting for the guys I see a smirk on Chris’s face: I think he just saw me.  They are freed from formation and he comes straight to me and gives me the biggest hug I’ve ever had.  Then all afternoon we are walking around post and every guy that Chris introduced me to responded with “Oh, so she did get to come after all.”  It was so great to be able to really surprise him for an event as big as this.  Tomorrow the newest Marines will graduate then they have their orders.  Chris’s orders require him to leave Tuesday morning for training from anywhere to 4-10 weeks. 

While it totally stinks having to give him back after just 10 days, but the look on his face today when he saw me was absolutely priceless.  I’ve missed this kid like crazy but being in his arms today made the rough past 3 months completely worth it.