Snow Day

I do not know where you are from but in Chesapeake the last big snow I remember was 7^th grade, so when I experienced my first Blacksburg snow it was AMAZING. Freshman through junior year in high school I do not remember having any snow days but senior year he had a snow day because of 100 percent chance of snow and we got nothing, not even a flake.

Saturday morning at 8:30am there were loud banging noises coming from the door. My roommate and I were asleep so it took awhile to register. I am the bottom bunk so it was my job to get out of bed to open the door and when I got out I looked out the window and it was snowing. I said it really loudly, “It is snowing…” and my roommate thought I said ‘it is noon…” That would have been very bad because we were supposed to get dressed and ready to leave at 10:15am to go to Olive Garden for our best friend’s birthday. We both got out of bed except I got back in bed where it was warm and watched the snowfall, meanwhile my roommate was already to go and turned and looked at me and said “what are you doing?” so I got out of bed and put on my snow gloves, two jackets, two fuzzy socks, rain boots (I left my snow boots at home), and jeans. When we got outside, there were about 5 of us and we walked across the drill field, made snowmen, walked around the duck pond and took pictures, threw a couple of snowballs at each other in a very friendly way. Then we went back to our rooms to get ready to catch the bus at 10:15am to Christiansburg. We got off at Wall-Mart where we all bought sleds for five dollars and carried them around for the rest of the time in Christiansburg. After Wall-Mart we walked to Olive Garden with our sleds and then we got there at 10:50am and it does not open until 11am so half of them went sledding and the other half stood by the door and waited until 11am. We were the first ones in the restaurant and since Lauren was not there yet because she went sledding we told them about her birthday and ordered a cake and everyone paid a dollar. By the time we left for Christiansburg there were 8 of us so the cake was not very expensive. After Olive Garden we went to Old Navy because they were having a sweater sale. I did not by anything but others bought the sweaters for ten dollars. They were very cute sweaters too. Then we ran out of the store because we thought we saw the BT transit but really it was a dumpster outside Sears. While we were walking around we actually saw the BT transit and we chased after it and then got on the bus. I was the last person to get on and an elderly man stopped me and said, “I did not think you still used sleds anymore.” And I just smiled at him and said “yes we do.” When we got back to campus we went to our dorm rooms to change into clothes were we could play in the snow. Then we played in to snow by sledding down the hill at Hillcrest, by Lane Stadium, by the cage, and behind Slusher. I had never been sledding before and it was a lot of fun. We went down on our stomachs, on our butts, and we even put the other person’s foot in the sled before us and had all 8 of us go down in a train line sort of thing. That was the best because we went down fast and controlled. Remember in Chesapeake we do not get snow and if we do it is .25in to .5in and then there are no hills to go sledding down. I would have liked to go traying with the dinner trays but I like my purple sled better. By 3:30pm we had been in the snow all day and we were all frozen so we decided to go in and drink hot chocolate and I did homework. I had not done the linear algebra do that evening; however, it took my two hours at the most. That evening I went to the GYM. I love the GYM it is so much fun and it makes me so happy. I had not been to the GYM before until I got here. I came back ate a salad and showered so I could go to the PJ swing dance down South Main Street. That was a lot of fun J I enjoy swing dancing a lot! After swing dancing, I did not get back in my room until about 12:30am because the dance did not get out until midnight. You could leave earlier if you wished but I did not wish. When I got back I ate more food and watched gossip girl. I told myself I will do the rest of my homework Sunday and make Sunday my productive day. It was a very productive day which was all worth it because Saturday was a lot of fun and as the birthday girl put it was the best birthday ever.

I hope of you had fun in the snow and that is did not distract you from all your homework like it did me. I am so glad I had Sunday to catch up. I heard it is supposed to snow again this Saturday, but at the same time I hope it does not so I can focus on finals and not wanting to go outside and play in the snow.

I had a great semester will all of you and thank you so much for reading my blogs each week. I am going to be honest some weeks I had no idea what to talk about so I just kept typing about random stuff. Thank you again.

Thanksgiving Break

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving break went wonderful and ate all the food they wanted to eat. Mine was a blast and I enjoyed every minute of it, from eating all the food to just hanging out and spending time with my family.

My Thanksgiving starts on Wednesday when everyone comes over to my house to start cooking all the food. In years passed, Wednesday was a half day and I had to go to school so when I got home everyone was there already cooking and peeling potatoes, etc. I would come home and eat lunch with everyone and then go start the chores that I had to do while everyone cooked. This was the first year that I did not have school and I was home when everyone got there. This year I also did all my chores Monday and Tuesday, so when the family arrived at my house on Wednesday they made me learn how to cook. This is the first year that I actually helped cooked all the food and I even made the mash potatoes from scratch. I was not a fan of helping with the cooking I would have much rather done the cleaning like I am used to but it was kind of fun learning how to cook and having dishes at the Thanksgiving dinner table that I made. This is also good because now I can cook food when I am living on my own. (It is so weird because I LOVE food but I had no idea how to make it, now I do J) That night the boys come over after work and all the girls after cooking all day, sit down and eat dinner together. The girls normally take off of work Wednesday.

This year was not only different for me because I helped cook the food but because I had four family members die this year and two of the family members that passed away used to come over every Thanksgiving.

My grandpa was one of the people that died and the other was my great uncle. My great uncle lived in North Carolina and they would always come up to Chesapeake to have Thanksgiving dinner with us but because everyone down there is either getting old or getting married they started not to come up anymore. My grandpa, however, was always at Thanksgiving and he would help cook by telling us what else we needed to add to food, etc. I missed my grandpa a lot this year.

Then Thursday, the big turkey day, always starts off with the Macy’s Day parade. That day we do a couple chores to clean up from cooking the day before and the first dish we cook on Thursday is, of course, always the turkey. Then my mom and I go get dressed because the girls are going to come over at about 2pm to finish cooking all the dishes we did not finish the day before. Then the boys get there about 3pm and the rest of the family gets there about 5pm. All day we snack at the horsdoeuvres on the kitchen table and socialize. Then, 6pm rolls around and the table is already set and the dishes are slowly moving to the long dining room Thanksgiving dinner table. At 630pm everyone sits down in their seat so pictures are taken and grace is said. Right after, we dig in and eat until we cannot eat anymore. We talk for another hour after we eat, around the dinner table and then we clear it to go get the dessert. After we eat the dessert we sit around and talk for another hour. Then by then it is 1030pm and we start dividing the left overs. No one goes away empty handed. By the time everything is divided and the whole family leaves it is 11pm or 1130pm and after a full belly and long day it is time for bed.

This year, Thanksgiving was smaller and my family said I was a big help. That made me really happy that I was a big help.

Black Friday continues the Thanksgiving weekend with shopping until we drop, the only catch is my family starts at 6pm so we really shop until midnight or when the stores close, whichever one comes first. This was the first year that I only shopped with my family for two to three hours, because I left to go to a party where I could see all my friends I have not seen since I went to college. When I went to high school with them it was not that big of a deal because I saw them every day for six to seven hours straight.

Then we continue the Christmas shopping Saturday night after church. This is really nice because before the weekend is over we have done a good amount of shopping for ourselves and getting all our Christmas gifts. Some people are just impossible to buy for, it is like they have everything anyone could think of and if they do not have it, there is a reason and you should not get it as their Christmas gift. Christmas gift giving, shopping, etc. takes over the holiday and makes it so stressful. This is not fair because that is not what Christmas is about and that is what the media makes it about, taking away from the meaning of Christmas. I do, however, like that people’s spirits change during the Christmas season. I do not understand why right after Thanksgiving everyone is all of a sudden nicer, but it happens. This does give hope that the meaning of Christmas is not completely lost in gift giving and getting what you want for the Christmas. Some people are just so spoiled that if they do not get what they asked their parents for Christmas, then they get all mean. That is just not right and the parents should not tolerate it because they should be grateful for any present they receive.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and do not get too stressed out with Christmas shopping.

Random Topics That Somehow All Fit...

I think that it is important that while everyone is at college they not only focus on academics but they also focus on what makes them happy. How would they want to spend their time if they are not studying and hanging out with friends? I strongly believe that college is a time to “grow up”, figure out who you truly are, find out what you want out of life, explore and take chances, make mistakes (within reason), and let this be the best four plus years of your life. The first semester of college is almost over and we are going home this weekend for Thanksgiving break. We all are going to have stories to tell and we all have figured out what we need to improve. If you feel like you do not have either then either you do not get out or you are perfect. I know I have stories to tell (a lot has happened in the last couple of months) and I still need to improve on time management. I made the rule that I would have homework done two days before it is due that way I am not staying up really late the night before it is due. For me, everything seems to be due Wednesday so I like to have the majority if not all the homework done by Monday night and finish it up Tuesday morning. The only problem that is only feasible if I get a lot of homework done over the weekend. That is the hard part because I like breaks. I cannot wait until Christmas break.

As I was stating earlier, we should all find a club, an activity, or something that we look forward to every week. I look forward to swing dancing. It is so much. Last Friday night, the Solely Swing at Virginia Tech (the swing dancing club) had the Swingsgiving Dance in the Old Dominion Ballroom at Squires. They have held other dances such as the Halloween dance, the beach theme dance, etc. They offer free lessons for an hour before and then the social dance is after for $5. You do not have to stay but the only way to get better is to practice. What I mean by social dance is that you do not have to go with a partner; you will dance with tons of different people. It is a great way to meet new people and improve your dancing. The key thing about swing dancing is the guy leads and the girls follow. I hard as it is to lead it is just as hard to follow. The really good leaders are the ones you can dance with and not have a clue what you are doing but you are doing it right because they are leading well. The bad leaders are the ones that you have no idea what they are doing and you are trying to figure it out the whole song.

Random fact about swing dancing: the majority of the people I have talked to about their major are engineers. People think of the stereotypical engineer as someone who does not get out and all they do is homework, etc but there are not many swing dancers from other majors. Granted Virginia Tech is known for engineering so it is a pretty big college within the university.

Another random point, I do not know if you guys have heard but the Tidewater Area/ Coastal Plans, however you learned it in elementary school, had some bad flooding. All the public schools, Old Dominion University, Tidewater Community College, etc. were closed. If you know anything about that area you probably remember that they did not close down the Mid-Town tunnel for hurricane Isabel and it got flooded. Fishes were swimming in the bottom of the tunnel. Well last Thursday, they closed down the tunnel because the tide was supposed to be as high as it was for hurricane Isabel . After hurricane Isabel, houses were flooded, trees were in the middle of the street, houses did not have roofs, without power for eleven days ( I know some people were longer, actually some areas are not fully recovered yet from the hurricane it happened a couple of years ago), etc. The hurricane started heading towards Virginia Beach as a category five but then it went down to either a tropical storm or category one I cannot remember. It would not have done as much damage as it did if it were not for all the rains before it hit. That might have been the problem last Thursday because it was raining a couple of days before it really hit. I heard that Norfolk is flooded and the tide was as high as it was for hurricane Isabel. If you are not from that area you probably have a harder time understanding what I am talking about. The biggest point to get across is hurricane Isabel was nowhere near as bad as hurricane Katrina but it was bad. I watched trees fall on cars, watched two trees fall on one house and it cut it in thirds, watched trees fall right into the street, etc. The really good story about the tree falling on that persons house (they do not live there anymore, I have new neighbors) was the girl was in the room and the minute she walked out the tree fell right where she was standing. If she stayed there a minute longer then she probably would not be here today to tell the story. I know for everyone something big has happened while they were growing up. It ranges from natural disaster, the economy, to politics, to wars. Every generation has had one and future generations will get them.

What happened to us when we were little helped shape who we are today. Now that we are “on our own” it is time to make choices that will help shape the rest of our lives.

Christmas Time :)

What do you think about starting the Christmas season before Thanksgiving; how radio stations play Christmas music before Thanksgiving and all the stores start setting up. Where did all the Thanksgiving decorations go? I feel like you have to search hard for the Thanksgiving decorations.

When my roommate and I went to Target to buy stuff, I honestly do not remember what we went to get, we saw the Christmas stuff in the holiday section and we saw a pink Christmas tree with a pink tree skirt, and pink tree topper with pink ornaments and pink garland. My roommate and I like it causes it will match our pink room but everyone else is like “you should at least have a green Christmas tree” but then everything else can be pink. I do not understand because I like the pink tree because it is something different and not the same old same old. Do you think we should go back to Target to get the pink tree?

As my roommate and I were in that section we saw colorful Christmas lights and decided to buy them because they were only two dollars a strand. Each one bought a strand and decided to hang it all around the room. Now everyone is like “do you not know that Christmas is after Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving has not happened yet?” We say yes but we like them so it really does not matter. Plus rooms have had Christmas lights since we got here in August. I think it is just a college dorm room thing, personally. Do you have Christmas lights in your dorm room?

I was joking around with my roommate the other day saying since it is November, I bet there is a Christmas station on the radio. She was said “I think we should wait until after Thanksgiving to find it since we both like the radio station we are using now.” I forgot the channel but all it plays is popular music. I like it because since I have been at college I feel so isolated from the real world because I do not know what is going on. I listen to my iPod all the time so, it is hard to know the new songs everyone is singing. I do not like feeling out of the loop. We both agree that we would not find this radio station until after Thanksgiving. What do you think about the radio stations playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving?

I cannot wait until Christmas. There is something about Christmas, when everyone gets really nice and it only lasts until New Years and then everyone goes back to being the way they were before Thanksgiving. (Except for Black Friday, people go wild to start buying their Christmas presents. I know they have the best deals but every year, you always hear about someone dying because of a mad rush into the store. It is ridiculous if you ask me. Someone dies because they went shopping.) For example, everyone is trying to get gifts for the children’s parents that cannot afford them. The homeless shelters give away gifts to keep the homeless warm. Churches spend more time giving them a home in the winter than they do in the summer which never made any sense to me because they are going to be just as hot in the summer time as they are cold in the winter. Why cannot people be this nice all year? I understand that Jesus was born and American in general (I know I am stereotyping) goes all out and celebrating this holiday. We all start being really nice and giving and caring but does not Jesus want us to do this all year and not just during his birth day? Virginia Tech does a good job about caring all year round or at least during the school year because we have to get a certain amount of community service hours. I like that. Sometimes it feels like the whole reason why we are celebrating the holiday is gone because people focus too much on the gifts and not the good spirits. I know I just said up above that everyone gets nice and all the good spirits but with the good spirits comes the stress of the holiday. Getting all the Christmas presents for everyone and not leaving anyone out, making sure to have enough money to afford presents, etc.

For me, I have volunteered for Toys for Tots. What I did was go to a warehouse and everyone that received cards in the mail could come get some toys for their children to give to them Christmas morning. After volunteering, I am always in the Christmas spirit. We push the carts around and the soldiers go around and they just start putting stuff in the carts. At the end, the parent gets a Christmas present. They get so touched that they are getting a present they start crying and saying “Thank You” like a million times. This always makes me feel so good inside and like a helped someone out for Christmas. Everyone gets the Christmas spirit in different ways, for me it is volunteering for Toys for Tots. What helps you get the Christmas spirit?

Okay this is random but I have to admit that I have never watched Star Wars until last Friday. I saw episode three when it came out in the movie theatres because my best friend dragged me to go see it with her. Last Friday, I watched the fourth episode, you know the first one. I asked so many questions to figure out what was going on. It was really good; I did like it. My friends said to me when they found out that I have never watched Star Wars that I was a nerd wanna be lol. Well now I have seen it and I am not a nerd wanna be anymore. J

Halloween :)

Why does everyone love Halloween so much? Is it the candy, dressing up as anyone you want to be, or the fun parties? When little children get excited about Halloween it makes sense, they get to put down the school work and go door to door saying “trick or treat” and then get a hand full of candy. I know some houses even give away the king size candy bars, hot chocolate, water bottles, and cotton candy. Also, some houses have a hunted theme before you are able to get the candy. Those houses always scared me when I was little, I would never approach them, and my Dad would have to hold my hand as I walked back to get the candy. Why is hard to go alone but when you are holding someone’s hand it makes it all better? I think it is because people naturally do not like to be alone and the presents of someone makes it all better; that is why people tend to be social on a day to day basis. The haunted houses always had the best candy though, maybe it was because we had to go through the haunted part and the prize was at the end and the prize seemed better because we had to work hard for it.

Teenagers love Halloween because Halloween parties are sometimes the best. I know when I was too old to trick or treat for candy, all my friends and me went out trick or treating for UNICEF. The best part was you got money and candy. J This was a lot of fun because you got to pretend you were a little child, the only difference is you were not trick or treating with your parents you were trick or treating with your friends. After trick or treating, we would all go back to someone’s house and watch a movie, dance, and eat tons of candy. My biggest problem with that though is people do not put the candy wrappers in a trash can or even in a pile outside the bowl, they put them back in the bowl. That always made me a little upset but I would not let that ruin my evening.

College students love Halloween so much probably because the craziest parties happen on Halloween. I hear stories of people going out and not returning until about 6am. It was really cool that this year Halloween was on daylight savings so we had an extra hour to either sleep or party. I cannot remember if every year is like that but that was nice for this year. Most college students look forward to Halloween; it is proven by all the Facebook statuses saying I cannot wait until Halloween.

Parts of me think that college students love Halloween because they can pretend to be someone else. Like if a very conservative girl dressed up as a sexy Dorothy it is perfectly fine, no one thinks twice. If she wore anything sexy any other day of the year people would think she changed or something. It is crazy how they can get away with it.

Adults probably get excited because they feel like little kids again. They can be whoever they want to be. Like playing dress up as a child, only not and it is as an adult. Also, they get to watch all the little children dress up and even take their children trick or treating like they did when their parents took them when they were children.

I decided to look up Halloween on Urban Dictionary.com and the first definition was “An annual excuse for girls to dress like sluts and get away with it.” The second definition was “celebration where little kids dress up and get candy, teens dress up, get drunk, and go get candy, and adults dress up, get drunk, and give out candy, funny how things all work out.” WOW! I was right and it is funny how the definitions are right about that crazy cycle J

I decided to look up Halloween on Dictionary.com and the definition that pops up is “the evening of October 31; the eve of All Saints' Day; Allhallows Eve: observed esp. by children in costumes who solicit treats, often by threatening minor pranks.” That definition is a better one than urban dictionary.com but it is funny how it eludes to pranking each other. I guess that is how trick or treat came to be.

I decided to look up the origin of Halloween on Dictionary.com and the first thing that popped up was “c.1745, Scottish shortening of Allhallow-even "Eve of All Saints, last night of October" (1556), the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, a night for witches. Another pagan holiday given a cursory baptism and sent on its way.Hallowmas "All-saints" is first attested 1389.” That is really cool how Halloween used to be where people believed that it was the start of a new year and now people believe that all it is is one night a year was you can dress up and be whatever you want to be.

I hope everyone had a safe and an awesome Halloween, I know I did. I went to the IV party and we watched movies, danced, ate food, had a costume contest, etc. We did not even watch Halloween movies we watched The Dark Night and X Men. They are both really good movies but I did not get to see the whole movie because I jumped in the middle of them and then I did not watch the end of them. It was really cool they way they had it set up because each apartment had something different going on in it. For example, room 6 and room 4 were the movie rooms, room 5 was the food room, and room 8 was the dancing and games room. It seemed like everyone at the party had a blast and I know I did. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween. Happy Late Halloween!

Sleep

Our parents, doctors, everyone says that we need at least 8 hours asleep at night. 8 hours helps our memory, restores our energy that we used up during the day, rebuilds and restores muscle tissue, helps our mood and concentration, helps our nerve system and immune system, and improves short term memory. If all of this is true, why do college students not aim for more sleep? Why do college students feel “as long as I get 5 hours I am good?” Why are college students still able to function just as well with 6 hours as 8 hours? Why do college students always assume they can sleep tomorrow and then never do? How are college students suppose to balance sleep along with everything else in life? Why do college students only sleep when they are sick? Why do college students also want sleep? When did college students discover that naps are not just for babies? Why are college students always tired in the morning but wake up towards the evening?

Honestly, I have no idea why students do not try to get more sleep because most students complain about not getting enough sleep and are always tired. Whenever you ask a college student “how are you?” they always reply with either “good” or “tired.” I think college students think 5 hours of sleep is enough because they feel homework is more important than sleep. They feel it does not matter how long it takes as long as they get it done. To make them feel better about not going to bed when they originally planned they say “as long as I get at least 5 hours I will be okay.” The next thought is normally “I will get more sleep tomorrow night” which everyone knows tomorrow never comes. Then finally the week is here and no classes and homework is not due for a couple more days, the thought is “I can actually get some sleep. “ However, the phones rings about an activity that is going on tonight and the person on the other lines asks “would you like to hang out this evening?” The thought that goes through the students head is , well I did homework all week and I am pretty much caught up, one night will not hurt. The student does not get back until 2 am and has to be someone where the next morning at 10 am. The student again only gets 6 hours of sleep. The cycle continues….it also does not help if the student works better at night than in the morning.

I think the whole thing boils down to time management. That is the hardest thing for me since I have been at college. Hanging out with friends and doing homework is really not the same thing as hanging out with friends and going to the movies. Unfortunately for us the days of being able to have free time does not exist anymore, that also has a lot to do with your major. It is just not fair how other majors have way more free time than engineering students.

Faceboook! Facebook is probably the biggest distraction for everyone. I know I am guilty of using Facebook to procrastinate homework, and I know if I had a Farmville I would never get off. I know, I know I am probably the only person on campus that does not have a Farmville. If we did not get on Facebook so much and did not have it up in the background when we are doing homework, I know I would finish my homework 10 times faster. The thing that gets me most is why is Facebook so addicting? How can people spend hours on it? I guess, reading other people’s profiles, sending messages and wall posts to people, taking quizzes to see what you are like, playing games, poking people, reading all the news feed, etc is what takes so much time. I know I am guilty, I have literally spent a whole day on Facebook and did not even realize it, and I know for a fact I am not the only one. If we know we would complete the task faster if we were not on Facebook, then why do we get on Facebook anyway? Even after we do all our homework for tomorrow, we still get on Faceboook before we go to bed. This website distracts us and keeps us from sleeping. I heard about it all the time in class, “last night I was watching something on youTube, hulu, and talking on Facebook, that is why I did not get to bed until about 3 am.”

For the people who live in a dorm, it is understandable to be kept awake by all the people hanging out in the hallway. I know one time my roommate tried to go to bed about 9:30pm and I stayed up at my computer doing homework. She stayed awake because there were people outside the room talking and screaming until about 2:30am. So, if it is because you are living in a dorm that is keeping you up at night, then at least it is not your fault. I know my roommate puts her iPod in her ears before she goes to bed and I am sure that helps block the sound which would make it easier to fall asleep.

If you are getting about 8 hours asleep at night, keep up the good work, you are on a roll. If you are not getting 8 hours of sleep you are like the rest of campus and maybe pointing out what the biggest distractions are will help you know what to improve. I know for me, if I improved on time management I might get to bed earlier than I have been which would let me get more sleep. The first step for me is getting off Facebook while I am doing my homework. Good luck on finding your first step.

Random Advice...

Since this week’s blog can be about anything, I am going to write about why boys think girls are so complicated when really it is the boy that is complicated. This blog is not about me personally, it is just observations I have experienced or witnessed over the years. Do not get me wrong…girls are complicated too but boys make it that way.

For starters, boys do not listen. How many times have you experienced saying something to a boy and ten minutes later he says something completely different. This makes girls angry and that causes boys to think girls are complicated when really it was the guy. They thought one thing and got confused because they did not hear the girl say something else. When a boy actually listens to a girl he is a keeper…whether it is a friendship or a relationship. Yes, I admitted girls do not listen all the time but that causes girls to think boys are confusing. When two people like each other enough, I believe they will listen to each other because they want to please each other and not fight. As the famous phrase goes “communication is the key to any good relationship.” If you cannot say how you truly feel around that person then maybe the relationship is not really working. The significant other in any relationship should be your best friend someone you can talk to about anything and someone that will be there for you in good times and bad. Part of being there is listening to your problems and how you feel. A poster in my orchestra room said “silent and listen have the same letters.” I know that might be a little cheesy but it means something. Another reason boys think girls are complicated is that they do not like to talk about their emotions. Boys have a harder time opening up and talking about how they feel. I do not know why it is, maybe they think they will sound weak. I do not know. This is still along the same lines with communication. If the boy does not tell the girl how she feels then it is harder for her to know how to act in certain situations. In a relationship it takes two to keep it going, if one person decides not talk about it then the other is not sure how to act.

Another reason why boys thinks girls are complicated…I will admit…I do not think girls truly know what they want. Have you ever been in a relationship where at first you thought you liked the guy and then the more you thought about it and realized that maybe you do not. Or have you been in a relationship when you thought you were over the last guy and the more you talk about him you realize you like him more than you thought and feel bad for breaking up with him. Or have you been in a relationship where it was great in the beginning and then at the end all you did was argue. This problem maybe no one’s fault, just that in general we are indecisive people. That does not make us complicated because as I stated earlier, communication will keep the boy on the same track.

Another reason that boys think girls are complicated is that they are not on the same page like they thought they were. For example, the boy is getting more attached to the girl, when the girl is not that attached yet. Or the boy is holding on to the relationship when the girl just wants to be friends. Or the boy does not feel the same way for the girl and does not understand why the girl gets mad when she finds out after they did something.

Relationships in general are complicated, any type of relationship. Best friends can be complicated because how many times has your best guy friend ended up like you? Those are always the hardest and it is a tossup whether they will turn out okay or very badly. I have learned with anything and everything that “time heals all things.” This does not only happen with best friends. Sometimes one person will not admit they have a crush on the other and this leads to nothing happening with hurt feelings. That, however, is better than telling someone you like them and go ahead and try the relationship when really deep down they are not ready for a relationship. That means it is going to explode in their face. That is like a rocket getting ready to launch.

Another reason boys think girls are complicated is some boys literally go from one girl to the next. Yes, girls can do it too. When the girl finds out that the boy just moved on that quickly the girl gets hurt and so she expresses her anger. The boy is probably thinking why is she so mad we just broke up we are both single and free to date whoever we want. This, however, maybe the case but make sure you give it time. Rebounds do happen and they can end very badly. It is harder now to know when two people break up because sometimes it was never really official so the girl may think they broke up a different time the boy thinks they broke up.

I understand that both boys and girls are reading this and that everyone is going to have a different opinion. Relationships in general are hard to categorize because so many different aspects are in the relationships that make it work. One type of relationship might work for someone and might not work for someone else. Boys if you have wondered why you thought girls were so complicated…do not just look at the girl (I admit girls are complicated). Maybe the boy did something too that made the relationship seem complicated. Overall, both just be level headed and listen to each other. If you take the time to listen to each other, you are taking the time to show each other you care.

Rhetorical Analysis

This week’s blog post topic is on rhetorical analysis. I read chapter 5 but I am still not sure if I did it right.

iTunes

This advertisement is trying to sell iPods to the youth. It is achieving it by having all the teenagers look like they are having a lot of fun at a dance party by listening to their iPods. This is effective because it is not very common that a teenager does not have an iPod. A logical look at the picture, makes is seem like no one is sociable anymore because everyone is in his or her own little world and not listening to what everyone else is listening to it. At a normal dance, all the teenagers are listening to the music and discussing it and talking about what they like and what they do not like. The music company is saying that everyone needs an iPod, by showing everyone in the picture with an iPod and dancing up and down to their music. It is has some pathos saying everyone has one jump on the

bandwagon and get one too. Saying you do not want to be left out or you will feel really bad. It has some ethos because who is going to know iPods better than the people who have them. This is a social argument because it is relating to pop culture.

Above the influence

The advertisement is trying to get teenagers not to do drugs or smoke. They are achieving it by showing a bug about to eat bug spray, which would kill them. This is saying that if you do drugs you could die from it. It depends on the strength of bug spray that will kill the bug. For example, a cockroach will not die from fly spray but it will from cockroach spray. It uses the ethos approach because above the influence is a reputable source. This source is known to teach teenagers to not do drugs, that is why their advertisements tend to be in magazines, on popular teenage television stations, and on popular teenage websites. It is more powerful with the question at the bottom that states, “what’s the worst that could happen?” This question is rhetorical because it is obvious that a bug will die from bug spray. This is a very social argument because it is relating to pop culture. The argument is trying to show people that are thinking about doing drugs and people that are doing drugs that it is more harmful than portrayed. The people that are thinking about doing drugs or the ones that are, are the only people that are really gaining from the article because if someone believes strongly in not doing drugs this advertisement will hardly affect them.

Geico

This advertisement is saying that switching the car insurance is really easy, do not worry about it, just do it. It is achieving this by having a caveman; someone who is thought to not be intelligent, saying I can do it you can do it too. This, however, does not make much sense because cavemen were the ones that came up with fire. This is appealing to younger and older adults, really anyone who would need insurance. Children are not going to need insurance. It is using some emotional appeal because it is like a challenge. If he can do, so can I. The person is going to want to change the car insurance because he wants to prove someone wrong. It does not seem that trustworthy because it says “get a free rate quote,” nothing is free in this world. Saying “you could save hundreds on car insurance,” does sound believable but, that would vary from person to person and “could” is the key word that most people would not have picked up on. This advertisement has been on the radio, television, internet, and magazines. This advertisement is more political because it is a law that everyone has car insurance, which is the main reason why everyone has car insurance. Because of this law, car insurance companies are trying to make it easier for people to get car insurance and by saying a caveman can do it, is implying that it is easy.

Smoking (I am sorry that I cannot show the picture but here is the link: http://www.geckoandfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/stop_smoking_kills6.jpg)

This advertisement is really trying to get people to quit smoking because it not only kills you but is kills everyone else around you. It is achieving this by showing the three different pictures. The first picture is very powerful with the statistic “3,000 nonsmokers die every year from secondhand smoke.” It is an emotional argument because it is making someone feel bad (touching their hearts) about smoking and how they are killing people. Similar to feed the kids in the third world countries; it feels like if we do not send the money then we are killing them. The first picture shows the smoke reaching out and going to kill someone. The second picture shows them having fun while they are smoking and how it looks like noting bad can happen. The third picture shows them trying to fight for their life and how they are about to die. This is social argument because it is trying to tell people not to smoke like the rest of society that it is bad for you. It can kill you. The language is very strong because it has that statistic of all the deaths. This advertisement is found in a magazine and is one that will make a person look at it because it has such a powerful message. The advertisement is presented in a chronological way. It shows what happens first and then what happens next. The advertisement is appealing to anyone who smokes or is thinking about smoking. It is trustworthy because of the statistic and the underlying message. The only problem is a statistic can be skewed in any way to give the message it wants to give. The fact is it is not going to catch all the people who died of secondhand smoke and it is going to make false assumptions about some people that did die from secondhand smoke.

October Sky Festival

For those of you who do not know, Rocket Boys is a book based on Homer Hickam’s life about being something more than what he was destined to be. He grew up in Coalwood, West Virginia. This town had all its income for the mine and Mr. Hickam (Homer Hickam’s father) managed the mine. Mr. Hickam kept telling his son that he was going to work in the mine for the rest of his life and eventually become the manager. Homer saw more to life and wanted to build rockets. His father did not approve and his mother said, “Don’t blow yerself up, now.” The whole story is about him following his dream of becoming a rocket scientist. The three other guys who helped him out were his best friends. He eventually graduated from high school and went to Virginia Tech to become a rocket scientist. He worked at NASA until he retired and now he is a full time writer and promotes his book, Rocket Boys. Rocket Boys was also made into the movie October Sky. Fun fact Rocket Boys has the same letters as October Sky…I heard that is where the name came from.

Anyone who wanted to sign up to go to Coalwood for the October Sky Festival with Hypatia and Galileo (the girl and boy theme housing for engineers) for a day and manage a booth could. We also got ten hours of community service when we did it. J We departed from Virginia Tech at 5:30am Saturday morning and did not get back until 6:30pm that night. Everyone was asleep on the bus. When we arrived we set up our tent for the activities we had planned for the little children to do to get them interested in engineering. We had three ideas but only two were successful. The first idea was to make slim out of water, borax, and food coloring. That was a lot of fun to play with and it seemed like all the little kids enjoyed it. The second was to make paper airplanes out of card stock and cut different flaps to decide which way you want the plan to fly. The third that did not work were the pop rockets. We used film canisters and poured vinegar in about three fourths of the way and then dropped a half of tablet of alkaliser and then you have a rocket. The only problem we ran into was the film canisters were not air tight so the experiment was a bust. Good news is we had the other two to cover up for not having one.

Since there were a large group of us there, the people that were not helping out with the projects would walk around passing out “Love an Engineer” Virginia Tech buttons. That is what I did. We would also tell people about the booth and that they should go check it out to make some cool things. One little kid had a Virginia Tech hat on so I went to go talk to him about the Tech booth/tent. When I did he was like no I do not want to go make stuff and then I said “would you like a button” and he took it but it was obvious he really did not want it. So maybe an hour later the kid with the Tech hat is at the booth making stuff. Someone told me he went twice. That made me mad because he told me he did not want to go over there. Kids!

There were many activities they had planned other than the booths, such as the parade, showing of October Sky, rocket launches, etc. We stood to the side and watched the parade. Once the parade was almost finished there was a group of (I am guessing middle school) kids with name tags on. As they walked by we gave each one of them a button and with all the other buttons we passed out, we got rid of all the buttons J It was awesome because later that group had a picture taken with Homer Hickam. Since Homer Hickam had a pen and so did all the kids it was an awesome picture.

I was able to have Homer Hickam sign a copy of Rocket Boys for me and Natalie Canerday (the actress who played Mrs. Hickam, Homer Hickam’s mom, in October Sky) sign a picture of her for me. I also was able to get a picture of Homer Hickam and me and Natalie Canerday and me. Both of them are very nice people. Very easy to talk to and made you feel at home, very comfortable.

I had never been to West Virginia before until last Saturday and I learned how country it really is. When you drive there it is like you are entering a different world. I am from Chesapeake, Virginia so I am used to Norfolk’s skyscrapers and Virginia Beach’s beach and all the hustle and bustle. When I got to Virginia Tech, I would joke that all we have for a “downtown” is one street. I thought Blacksburg was country, very cozy and homey none the least. Driving through West Virginia, I realized that Blacksburg is not country. West Virginia is the true country. We drove through little towns that did not have any chains, all were owned by towns people and the town’s built up area lasted about three min on the bus ride. It really made me see that America has more sides than what is publicized. We briefly learn in history how country West Virginia really is, but seeing it, is believing it. After what I saw, made me appreciate even more what Homer Hickam went through to be the successful man he is today. What he did gives young people hope that they can make tomorrow what they want it to be; all they need is will power and motivation. As the old saying goes, “where there is a will, there is a way.”

The College Life

Wow, we are getting ready to receive our midterms in about a week. Can you believe that we have been in college that long? I still remember getting here August 20^th and calling my new roommate to tell her that I was pulling into campus. She moved in the day before me. Then since all the other people from my high school also moved in the day before me…I called all of them to tell them I was pulling into the Slusher parking lot. Three of my best friends, my new roommate, and my mentor all met me by the car and helped me carry all of my stuff in. I loved how everyone made fun of how much stuff I brought in and now they are starting to use all of it. For example, I brought folding chairs and everyone was like why would we need those and they are up almost every day for visitors. That night I went off with my friends to see the hypnotist. That was a great show…my roommate and I did everything together the first weekend…we went to all the Hokie Hi activities from Star Trek to the Beach Bash. Ever since then we have been doing everything together and have not been apart since. I am so grateful that we get along so well and do not fight. It still amazes me to this day how they matched us up because we think just alike and have so much in common. We did not even plan it but our room matches perfectly. It probably helped that we both shopped at Target for our college stuff. When we were buying the college accessories we did not know each other nor did we know both of us were shopping at Target.

When we first found out who our roommate is I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland (my mom and I go there every year, I have been going since I was four years old). I did not have my computer so I had to wait until that Friday to talk to my new roommate. That night getting on Facebook, I checked and had a friend request from her. We talked that night and again the next day. The first question I asked her was “do you like pink?” To my luck she said “yes” and all the stuff she bought for the dorm room was pink too. That was so nice because all I bought was pink. I mean our room matches perfectly. One of my biggest fears after buying all the dorm accessories was that she hates pink with a passion. I am so happy that that was false and everything worked out.

During the first week of getting to know each other and not having a lot of homework in my classes, I made a lot of friends and joined a lot of clubs. The extracurricular activities helped me to make new friends. As I said last week, even though I went to college with my best friends, I still view college as a new adventure, a nice comfortable facility to learn who you are, and a place where you can learn what you want to do for the rest of your life. Because of this reason, I am not hanging out with my friends from high school all the time. I do hang out with my best friends that live down the hall but we also hang out with some of my friends I met from swing dancing and various activities.

Hanging out with all my new friends a lot is fun. The phrase, however, is so true, college/ engineering students get two out of three…sleep, homework, or social life. Trying to balance all three is really hard for me. I think time management is probably one of the biggest problems I am having. The first couple weeks of college I defiantly chose homework and social life. Not sleeping did not end well so I tried to switch to homework and sleep. It really stinks because I want to hang out with my friends too. There are people in my room right now (my roommate and I have the same friends) because my roommate does not have homework for tomorrow, so I said I would leave and go to a study room to do mine. It is really crazy because we are both in Hypatia (the girl engineering living community) so you would think we would have the same work load but we do not. She had a lot of AP credits from high school and I did not take my AP credits from high school thinking it will help me adjust to college easier. So she has some electives and core classes where I have the basic freshman load. I do not know how it happened but I tend to have more homework than she does. She is an amazing roommate though because when I have homework and she does not she will just sit on her side of the room and is quiet. I really do appreciate that.

Another problem I have with time management is saying no to activities that are not more important than homework. For awhile now I would always tell myself that it is not due tomorrow so I can go out now and do the assignment tomorrow or the day before it is do. That is a bad idea and a horrible mind set to get into. After I learned from my mistakes, I try to do my assignments at least a day before it is due and not wait until the last minute. The good thing is that I found I work better at night than during the day; the only problem is my friends work better during the day than the night. That makes it hard, but I am still figuring it out. It is still the first semester.

Living on my own without my mom, not time management, is what I thought would be the hardest thing adjusting to college because my mom did everything for me. I am adjusting a lot better than I thought because I like the freedom and living on my own. Do not get me wrong I still miss her a lot but I can always call/skype/email her and that helps.

I know the first five weeks I have learned a lot, not just school work, but all the other things my mom did that I did not realize she did. I think I miss most her dragging me out of bed every morning. Just remember to have fun in college, do not lock yourself up in a room because half the college experience is the social aspect. When you find the perfect solution to balancing all three homework, sleep, and social life, please let me know.

Friends!

This week instead of writing about a news article I think I am going to write about my new friends I have made a VT and the old ones back at home. I really do love all of my friends…I would be a loner without them because I am an only child. Just joking…I still have my family J however my best friends are like my family. At home I visited one side of the family every Saturday and my other side every Sunday. My family is very close knit.

At home, I had tons of friends (I won friendliest for senior superlatives). There was no one that I would not talk to. I liked everyone; there was no one that I did not like. My high school was not like the high school’s you see on TV that have tons of clicks and you can only be a part of one click. Nope nothing like that, it was like a web…everyone had friends in all the “clicks.” Outside of school people hung out with different people but I think by senior year we all had a certain group of people we hung out with all the time. I know for me over the summer and before the high school football season on a regular base I hung out with about fifteen people. I am not sure how the “group” came to be. We had known each other for awhile and some people in the group I had known since I was five, but I am not sure how we all started hanging out. It is funny the way groups of people just form without any thought. We always had a blast together. Our nights ranged from catchphrase, board games, crazy dance parties (dancing in the rain, dancing in the street, dancing in the house, and dancing in the back yard), high school football games, volunteering (helped we were all in the same club), study groups (only once not really successful with a lot of people), pool, movies, always eating, etc. There was NEVER a dull moment with us. We were always at someone’s house hanging out; we lived at each other’s houses and our own. People always knew when the group had arrived because we would always take off our shoes before entering the house so there would be a pile of shoes in the entrance hall. I cannot explain enough that we were always together doing something, nothing ever serious because we were not serious people, but we knew when we needed to be. Shockingly enough we all went to college to be engineers. Only one or two of us did not.

I think our parents are happy to have time to do stuff for their self, but I think deep down they really miss us. One of the moms in the group is having an “empty nester party” for all the parents of the group of friends. In the group we were either only children or the last child in their family to graduate. Some have younger siblings but they are in the minority. I guess for our parents to stay connected without us there are going to have monthly potluck dinners. The last one I was told was a lot of fun and they are going to continue it next month.

Even though about 35 to 40 people from my high school and about half the “group” went here, I have still gone out and met new people. I believe college is a new adventure and time for a new start in life. So I hang out with my roommate and a bunch of other people all the time. My roommate and I did random (within Hypatia) and we ended up being just a like it is incredible. We get along so well!!! We hang out all the time. Tech could not have done a better job matching us up. I do not know how they did it since we only answered four questions. Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you stay up late? How neat do you keep your room? Maria (my roommate) and I have the same taste in almost everything…we did not plan it but our room matches perfectly.

All the other people I have met at Virginia Tech are amazing. We all hang out so much that we have inside jokes, fun movie nights, card games, etc. I have not met anyone mean. People here are so supportive, because when I need help or I did not do as well on something as I thought I did, there is always someone there. I know that this is just the beginning of college but it is so much fun! The classes are harder than I expected but that is okay I am figuring out what I need to do differently and hopefully that will help.

I really do miss all my friends from home! The ones that go to VT I talk to and visit when I can. College is defiantly going to be hard and busy, but I hope that I will always have time to stay in touch with all my friends back at home and that when we go back for breaks and such I will always have a connection with them. I know that the first four weeks I have been bad about calling and texting them, but that is something I hope to improve upon as the year progresses. In my defense, a phone call or a text goes two ways. My friends really do mean a lot to me; I would not be the person I am today without my best friends. It is hard to see it at the time but each and every person has a small impact on others. I am one of those people that normally do not see it while it is happening but as I reflect on it later, I do.

Everyone out there, that little song we learn when we are young is still true. “Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.” Do not lose sight of your best friends from back at home but remember that life is changing so it is okay to go out a make tons of new friends. I guess try to call or text your friends at least once a week. I know I am. Sometimes a phone call from an old friend can make all the difference in the world.

Wow, this one got me going...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32833550/ns/world_news-terrorism/

As I said last week we are disconnected from the real world; therefore, I read some more news articles to help keep you up to date with the latest news.

First news article from MSNCB is about Bin Laden sending Americans another tape around the September 11^th anniversary. He is thought to be hiding in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In the tape he insulted the Americans and President Obama. Bin Laden said President Obama to be “‘powerless’ to stop the war in Afghanistan, and Americans' inability to grasp why the Sept. 11 attacks occurred has ‘cost you a lot without any result whatsoever.’” He later talks about how President Obama is not changing the way President Bush handled the war because he kept many of the military leaders such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Bin Laden states the reason they are staying at war with us. "We have demonstrated and stated many times, for more than two-and-a-half-decades, that the cause of our disagreement with you is your support to your Israeli allies who occupy our land of Palestine," Bin Laden said. Later on he said, "Ask yourselves to determine your position: is your security, your blood, your children, your money, your jobs, your homes, your economy, and your reputation dearer to you than the security of the Israelis, their children and their economy?"

This is a very powerful news article. I, however, do not like how the reporter can just take random quotes and report about them. By doing that, the news article can be read to say anything because it was taken out of the original context. After reading this news article, it is very clear that the war we are fighting it is still very real. It is actually scary how much they know about your news and politics when we probably do not know nearly the same amount about theirs. I do understand that we live in a republic and the government has the right to keep any information from us its wants to. As American citizens we believe that we should still know everything which can be a scary thought. I think we think like that because we always say we live in a democracy but when we say the Pledge we say “to the republic for which it stands.” Because we were required to say it every morning in grade school, I do not think many people realize what they are saying, they just say it. Students do not take the time to think about what it really stands for and means. They do not think about the millions of lives that were lost for the freedom of this country. “Freedom is not free” is a bump sticker that is seen all around town but has a deep meaning behind it. George Washington told this country to remain isolationist and even Bin Laden is hinting on that when he said "Ask yourselves to determine your position: is your security, your blood, your children, your money, your jobs, your homes, your economy, and your reputation dearer to you than the security of the Israelis, their children and their economy?" This is a very powerful message and should be strongly considered by the people in the White House. I am not against the war and I am not for the war. Even though this message is about not being in the war, it has a very powerful message behind it. In AP government we learned that every war has a declaration and it states why we are there and when it will be over. That is how and why we know the point of each war in the past. When my teacher asked the class why we were fighting the War on Terrorism everyone in the class had a different answer. This further proves the point that we do not really know why we are fighting. Throughout the war we have switched countries to fight, we heard different reasons on the news for changing countries, and we are not clear on when it is time to leave. We do not know when because we never made a declaration. That is why it was so easy for senators to say they were not for the war during the election even though the funded the war. A 4 year old girl is not going to ask her parents for a promiscuous outfit and get to wear it if her parents do not approve of it. They are not going to fund it for her to wear. That is the same thing with the congress they cannot fund the war and then all say they are against it. I understand during 9/11 everyone was for it because we were attacked on our own land but part of being in the government is planning ahead and not acting on impulse. I am not saying that is what the government did it just feels like it.

As I stated earlier I am not for this war and I am not against. Because I do not feel I know all my information on why we are over there and the reasons behind it, I cannot make an educated opinion. I know hard core liberals are generally against the war and hard core conservatives are generally for the war. Since we are already over there, as much as President Obama wants to get us out, it is going to be hard. Just because we are in the middle of a war, it is going to be hard to slowly leave. Last time we tried that was Vietnam. Everyone knows how badly that turned out.

On a side note, they make us sit through history class because we are supposed to learn from our past and not make any of those mistakes again. Well, when they took Caesar out of power there was chaos. Why did our leaders not think that, that would happen when they took out the power in the Middle East?

Wow, well I had meant to write about more news articles, but this one got me going.