TED

I was recently assigned a project in one of my business classes. I had to watch three videos on a website called Ted.com. This website is home to thousands of videos and all I had to do was choose three to present on. I went in thinking that this assignment would be easy but when I got to the site I didn't know where to go from there.  I could choose anything. There were videos on every topic you could ever think of. Amazed at the amount of videos I had to choose from I chose three random videos. One of the videos I watched was an architect speaking about how he built houses. He wasn't just a regular architect; he was a creator. He didn't just build houses, he created art. The houses he created were made almost entirely from recycled material. He got most of his materials from junk yards and donated scraps. Instead of buying paint to paint the walls he would make pictures out of bottle caps and glue them to the wall. He used scraps of wood to make abstract ceilings and walls and never had to pay for them. He not only made his houses out of recycled material but he decorated them with recycled material too. He wanted his creations to be different so he would take front doors from the junk yards and make them into windows on the second floor. He put things where they generally didn't belong so the houses he made were unlike any other.  Not only were his creations unique but they were eco- friendly. I enjoyed watching this TED video because it showed me how I can create cool things without spending money. It was a new way of looking at things.

What's your role?

What is your role in the world? There are many issues in the world today that people don't even look twice at. The way I see it, people like me don't have the money, the support, or the power to make a difference in the world. My role in the world today is very small. I live my life for me and don't really think of those in need because I don't think that I can really help them. I am just an eighteen year old college student from St. Joseph, Missouri, what can I do to help the world? Writing this blog has made me think of those who do help to make a difference in the world. Most people we hear about who support charities and go to other countries to help out are celebrities or medical professionals. For those of you who don't know me, I am neither a celebrity nor a medical professional. Then I stopped to think about those who go on mission trips with their schools or churches. People don't have to be wealthy or a trained professional to help others, they just have to want to help. As of right now, I don't have much of a role in the world as far as volunteering and helping goes. I don't need money or anything like that to help, I can help out around my community and make a difference here. Maybe making a difference in my own community will make other people want to help too and then eventually we could make a change in the world!

Be Thankful

What are you thankful for? Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It's time we start to think about what we are thankful for in our lives. I am thankful for many things in my life. I am most thankful for my family. My parents have always made sure that I am well taken care of and have whatever I could possibly need. They support me in absolutely everything I do and they love me no matter what. They pay for me to go to college and made sure that I have the best education possible. I am thankful for my sisters for always being there for me. They always know how to make me laugh and never disappoint me. I am thankful for all my grandparents for making my family so close. I am thankful for all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins for being there. I have a very close knit family and we are always there for each other. My family members are my best friends and I am very thankful for them.  I am also very thankful for my wonderful boyfriend. He makes me happy and he is always there for me when I need him. I am blessed with many things in my life.  The people in my life make me who I am today and I am thankful for each and every one of them. This Thanksgiving holiday is a time when we should all remember what we are thankful for and not take these blessings for granted.

Time

Time is everything. Have you ever noticed how much we depend on time? It is almost like our lives revolve around time. Everything has a set time. Every event in our lives has a time. What time is it at? What time should I be there? What time will it end? Everything has a time. Even this blog has a time. It has the time that I started it and the time that I finished it and the time it is due. Our world revolves around time.
There are three dimensions: height, width, and depth. Could there be a fourth dimension? I think that if there were to be a fourth dimension it would be time.
My high school algebra teacher had this conversation with my algebra class last year. She pointed out that everything we do has a time, including us. We are three dimensional, but if time were the fourth dimension we could be four dimensional. We have time just like we have height, width and depth. We have a certain time that we came to be and a certain time when we will no longer be. Time consumes us. We don't want to be late because everything starts on time and we don't want to miss that time. We do things in a hurry to save time and if we procrastinate we are wasting time. Every single little thing we do has to do with time.We live and breath time.
I find this topic very difficult to explain since time is not a fourth dimension. I don't think that most people realize how much we depend on time.

Change!

If you could change the world, what changes would you make?

If I had the power to change the world I would focus on changing the issues that most people don’t realize are there. Most people, politicians specifically, who have the power to change the world would turn their focus to war and debt and other political issues. Although I do believe that national debt and war are big issues in the world, they are nowhere near as important as issues such as third world hunger and terminal diseases.

Not everyone has the luxuries that we have. There are people who don't even have clean water to drink, let alone food to eat. Millions of people all over the world are starving and millions more are sick with infections and diseases. If I had the power to change the world I would provide clean water, food, medicine and other necessities to people who need it the most.

I know it costs money to achieve this and considering the amount of debt the world has it is nearly impossible but where there's a will, there's a way.

There are millions of people all over the world struggling to survive. If I had the power, the support, the money to change the world people would not have to fight for clean water and food. People would not have to worry about getting diseases that they can’t cure themselves. If I had the power to change the world people would not have to suffer.

Football!

Some say the world revolves around time, some say it revolves around politics, I say it revolves around football. Every Friday night high school teams play and all the parents and students go to the game. It’s what Friday nights are for, everyone goes to the game! On Saturdays it is the college teams turn to play. Whether you go to a small school where all the students and parents go out to the game or a big school where the stadium is packed and all the other fans are watching from home, Saturdays are for college football. And Sundays and Monday nights are professional football. People all over the United States are watching their team play. Four days of the week are reserved for football and the other three days are spent preparing for the football weekend. Fans are loyal, whether it be high school or the NFL, the fans show up every week to cheer on their team. They show up early to tailgate and barbeque in the parking lot before the game starts. They go early to make sure they get a good seat for the game. They are there from early fall to late January or early February when all the fans come together for the Super Bowl. No matter what kind of fan they might be, everyone comes together for the Super Bowl just to watch the biggest game of the year. It has come to the point where, for almost a third of the year, our lives revolve around football. It is taking over our lives!

How they differ.

I chose the topic of how guys differ from girls to write this blog about. Guys differ from girls in many ways, physically and emotionally. Males and females differ in almost every way possible, from the way they look to the way they feel and the way they act. I chose to research the topic more in depth and find out how males and females differ inside, specifically in the brain. I found an article on Science Daily about how boys’ and girls’ brains are different. Science Daily and the writers of this article conducted research that suggested that language processing is more sensory in boys and more abstract in girls. They found that boys and girls rely on different parts of the brain when performing certain tasks. The article pointed out that girls tend to learn and remember things in a different way than boys. Everything about boys and girls are different, right down to the way their brains process. Everyone knows that males and females think differently, but not everyone knows that their brains actually function differently. I’m glad I chose to look into this topic because now I can explain to my mom why my dad does things differently than she does. Maybe this is why men and women can never agree on anything, because their brains think differently. Men and women differ in so many ways. Their thoughts and brain processes just make them all the more different.

Who to impress.

Guys and girls are different in many ways but there are similarities in their differences. Girls like to look good and guys like when girls look good. Guys try to impress girls and most of the time girls are trying to impress other girls. The assignment for this blog is to find a blog related to my topic and reflect on its perspective. I chose Lesley’s blog, “The opposite sex”, to reflect on. In her blog, Lesley tells two stories of guys doing incredibly stupid things. Were these guys doing this to impress people, to impress girls? Most likely, yes! Guys do stupid things to impress girls when girls really just want to get to know you. My boyfriend tries to impress me all the time but I like him for who he is, not the stupid things he does. Guys are different from girls because if a girl wants to impress a guy she dresses cuter and smiles a little bigger. If a guy wanted to impress a girl he might do something incredibly stupid to show that he isn’t scared. Guys and girls are alike in so many ways but impression isn’t one of them.

Maybe the guys she mentioned in her blog were genuinely ignorant, or maybe they were just like every other guy and wanted to impress a girl. Either way, they had a goal, either impress the girl they like or severely injure themselves. Most guys would be trying the first one but you never know.

Halloween!

Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! October 31^st is known to many as Halloween or All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day and two nights before All Souls Day.  Throughout my childhood Halloween was always a big holiday to celebrate. All through October my elementary school teachers use to prepare for the big day. In elementary school it was always a big deal to get to dress up at school and have a Halloween party. As I got older Halloween became less and less exciting. In middle school we weren’t allowed to dress up for the holiday or celebrate it at all during school. By the time I was in high school, Halloween was just another reason to throw a party. The holiday was always big fun as a child but as I grew up it died down. Although it is no longer a big deal to my friends the holiday will always be big in my family. Not only is it a time that we get to dress up and be our quirky selves but it’s also my papa’s birthday! My family all gets together for the big day and some of the grandkids even dress up. We have a Halloween party with just my family and it seems to be more and more fun every year as our family adds new members.  We might be too old to trick-or-treat now but it’s still a lot of fun to help hand out candy and see all of the little kids’ costumes. 

Footloose!

This weekend I went to see Footloose with my mom and my sister. It was AWESOME! It's a movie about a little town in Georgia banning dancing for kids under the age of eighteen. Imagine if we had ridiculous laws like this today! The movie showed how kids will do anything to get what they want, even if that means going up against the government. Instead of continuing to dance in secret and break the law they stood up for what they believed in. If everyone had the courage to stand up for what they believed in the world would be a whole different place.

My favorite part of Footloose would be the witty lines of the character Willard. He is the main character’s best friend and is not the most intelligent guy. On a side note, my sister and I can now annoy my family with quotes from Footloose instead of Due Date and Burlesque. We can now replace "I despise you on a cellular level." " I've heard that before and I'm working on it" from Due Date with "I think you're sexier than socks on a rooster" from Footloose. I'm sure my family will appreciate this greatly.
I am a big fan of musicals and Broadway shows. I have seen many musicals and I love going back for more. I have seen Guys and Dolls at Starlight, Sweet Charity on Broadway, and several musicals at my high school. I loved Footloose but my favorite musical would have to be either Burlesque or Sweet Charity.

Evolving.

Do you own a cell phone, laptop, kindle, computer, ipod, xbox, smart phone, ipad, or any other form of technology? It'd be hard to find a  person in today's world that answered no to this question. I can't think of a time when we aren't using technology. Technology has become a big part of the world we live in today. Some people rely on it just to make it through the day. If you think about it, our world revolves around technology. Nobody writes letters anymore, they send emails. People hardly ever make phone calls anymore, we send text messages to contact people. And people hardly ever go to a dictionary to define a word, they look it up on the computer or on their phone. Kids don't go outside to play anymore, they sit on the couch playing xbox all day. We have even come to the point where books are electronic, we don't even need libraries anymore! If we aren't on our cell phones we are glued to a computer screen or the television. Technology, along with social networking, has quickly taken over the world. But is this a bad thing? If we went back twenty, or even ten years we would think it impossible for technology to come as far as it has. How far will technology go? In ten years we will have made twice the progress and will live in a totally different world. Our cell phones and ipod's will be outdated and we will have all new forms of technology. The world is ever changing and we must change with it.

Where Were You?

I was in third grade, only eight years old . . . too young to understand what was happening.
It was September 11, 2001.  Our teachers felt we were too young to be told at school. The country was under attack and I didn't even know it.
We all remember where we were when it happened because it changed our lives. When the attacks came on that day people's lives were changed forever. Thousands of  people woke up that morning not knowing what would happen that day, not knowing that their lives would never be the same.
Today we remember the ten year anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. We remember the thousands of lives lost that day and the thousands affected by this disaster.
Are there days in your life that you remember vividly?  Do you remember where you were and what was happening on those days.  I remember very clearly the day our beagle ate my pet duck. I remember where I was and what I was doing  because it was a very sad day for me. Another day I'll never forget is the day that my 7th grade teacher, the mother of a classmate, died after a year long battle with cancer. It was a terrible day, not only did it affect our entire class but it also affected all of her past students.
Sad memories tend to stick in our minds more than happy ones because they really make us think about life.
Though these days in no way compare to what happened on September 11, they've made a permanent impression in my mind. Everyone has those days, the days we never forget and 9/11 was definitely one of those days.

It Gets Easier.

The first day coming to Jewell was scary. It was different than high school, I was on my own for the first time in my life. I'd never left my parents before. Being the baby of the family didn't help either. When my sisters moved away to college I had my mom and dad all to myself, I was the center of their attention. The idea of moving away and not being able to see them everyday scared me.
By the end of the first week of school I had seen my mom and dad almost everyday since I'd left. Seeing my parents and living so close to my sisters made leaving much easier, even though I go home at least once a week. I never seem to be alone anymore, I am either at my sister's apartment or at home.  I seem to be staying here at Jewell more often now that I'm settled in though.
When I first got to Jewell I thought that I was going to be fine on my own, I was wrong. I knew that I needed my parents but I didn't realize how much they did for me until they weren't around all the time. I have been dependent on my parents for the past eighteen years and all of the sudden I had to become dependent on myself. This was much more difficult than I thought. I call my parents, on average, five times a day. I have become more independent but I still need my mom and dad. My parents are there for me whenever I need them and I appreciate them more than ever!

Mabee Not

Last night I had my first day of work in the Mabee Center.  I was somewhat excited for it because I was told that all I would have to do was sit at a desk and check I.D.'s as people came in and I could do my homework.  Getting paid to do my homework is nice, right?  Wrong! Last night was quite possibly the most boring night of my life!  As I was sitting there in the heat, watching all the athletes run in circles for two hours I decided to do my my homework. So, I got out my book and stared at it for a while and realized that I like it quiet when I read. So I continued to sit there . . . and sit there . . . and sit there. For four hours! While I sat there I compiled a list of things I rather be doing. I'd rather . . .
1. . . . watch grass grow.
2. . . . be sitting in Responsible Self.
3. . . . sell my kidneys.
4. . . . get a root canal.
5. . . . take a tumble down a flight of stairs.
6. . . . teach the deaf how to listen.
And the list goes on.

Needless to say, I had a glorious time last night. And of course, lucky me, gets to go back tonight and do it all again! I'm so excited, i just can't wait!

It's time to say goodbye.
Until we meet again.

All About ME!

What kind of person am I? Well, let me tell you! I'm the kind of girl who you'd think is super quiet and keeps to herself... but I'm not! I seem shy but once I get to know you I'll talk your ear off.  I'm the type of person who doesn't care what anyone thinks about me.  The most important thing to me in my life is my family and they already know I'm quirky and weird!  I played tennis in high school and still play every now and then.  I have two sisters, Sam and Sarah, and a cute as a button boyfriend, Michael. They are my best friends and, quite possibly, the funniest people I know, along with my parents, Ange and Trev (who are also my bff's). Unfortunately, I did not inherit the funny gene. Throughout this blog you will read a lot about them and their strangely entertaining stories. Now back to me! I laugh at absolutely everything and I constantly have a smile on my face. I don't consider myself a good writer at all so we'll see how this whole blog thing goes! Now that you know a little bit about me and what to look forward to on my blog this semester it's time to say goodbye!
Until we meet again!