So I guess I must have completely missed when the purpose of college changed from educating people to whatever it is now. When you go to a college class shouldn't you do the work? Study for the tests? Show up to class? I'm not saying that I've never skipped because I have. I've skipped one of my classes twice so far this semester. I'm talking about the people who go to college just so they can party. Or go to college just so they can play a sport and then complain about the work they have to do in class.
I was in my health class. It's a one credit class that I'm taking so that I can have enough credits to be considered a full time student. It isn't a class I want to take but I go to it and I do the work. In this class the teacher has made us a packet of notes with about a page worth of notes for each chapter in the book we're supposed to be learning out of. In these notes are all the information we need so that we don't have to go out and buy the book. So she took time out of her life to make us feel a little less of the pain in our wallets that textbooks usually bring about. Everyday she goes over the notes from one to two of these chapters. The class is only 55 minutes long. So today she passed out a review sheet with a list of the topics that would be on the test next week. First there were exclamations about not knowing we had a test. (It was on the syllabus that she handed out the first day of class...) Then there were exclamations of how they couldn't believe how much information was going to be on the test. (The review was 2 pages long...) Then there were complaints because the test was going to be 25 questions long made up of True and False, fill-in, and 3 short answer. (Really?) And finally there was gasps of shock and awe when the teacher said there would be no word bank for the fill ins. (I give up.)
So I have a group of jocks who sits to the right of me and does nothing all class except talk about how wasted they were the night before. They started telling each other how unfair it was and how they should just get up and leave. I had a girl in front of me complaining about how now she had to spend all her time studying. Okay people this is COLLEGE. Not only is it college but this teacher is letting us off EASY. I'm going to study for this test for literally an hour and be prepared and it's not due to me being smarter it has to do with them being lazier.
The purpose of college should be learning but it's just not anymore. So much emphasis is placed on the athletics and the arts. Yes these things have their place but do you think an Art degree is actually going to help the world at large? No. Do you think playing football is actually going to create a better society? No. I'm so sick of so much importance being placed on these two areas. Nobody is placing importance on intelligence anymore. Without intelligent people there would be no electricity. There would be no computers. I would literally not be typing this up at this very moment.
As far as the sports go very very very few of the people who play sports in college are going to become professionals. That's just how it is. Sports is a nice past time but the vast minority actually make it their career. And as far as art goes look at some of the most well known artists in history. Leonardo Da Vinci was also a scientist and inventor. Michelangelo was an architect and an engineer.
I've had it with lazy complaining college students who don't want to do the work to get the grade. Stop coming! Save your money (or the taxpayers money) and stop coming.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Education
As many of you know I am in school right now for early childhood education. I love kids and I love teaching and many of you also know I have always loved school. One of the reasons for this is my parents. We always had books, educational games, and support in my house when I was growing up. I was very lucky because I was taught that knowledge is important. My parents helped me with my homework and chaperoned field trips. The same can't be said for everyone.
Education has been in the news a lot lately and everytime I read it I'm always reading about how teachers need to be accountable and I agree. Teachers should strive to help all their children reach their potential. Teachers who don't care about the students and aren't teaching well should be fired. The thing that really irks me about all this talk about accountability is that it places, in my opinion, too much of the responsibilty of education on the teachers. If you have a student who is going to say Beechwood and another who is going to Cleveland, they can have the same teacher and would still turn out different results. The environment is a very important factor in a child's education.
As a teacher, you can work as hard as you can. You can try every teaching method in the book. You can extend the school year (very bad idea in my opinion). But, if those kids when they leave the school are going back to a home where mom is sitting in front of the tv with a bottle of rum and dad's not even in the picture, those kids are nine times out of ten not going to reach the same level as the kids who had the support system I had. Will there be that tenth kid that everyone will hold up as an example of rising above it? Of course. But the majority of the time the cycle of illiteracy and poverty will continue.
Reform shouldn't just be in the schools themselves. We need to try to reform America in general. More and more there are single parent families. And if you look at the statistics that makes the children more at risk for early pregnancy, drug use, even suicide. We need to be teaching our young people about responsibility and the consequences of their actions. Instead we just keep trying to come up with the easy way out of everything. There are boys getting multiple girls pregnant and not caring about a single one of the girls or the babies. If we can't try to fix the problem at it's core it will never be fixed.
Education has been in the news a lot lately and everytime I read it I'm always reading about how teachers need to be accountable and I agree. Teachers should strive to help all their children reach their potential. Teachers who don't care about the students and aren't teaching well should be fired. The thing that really irks me about all this talk about accountability is that it places, in my opinion, too much of the responsibilty of education on the teachers. If you have a student who is going to say Beechwood and another who is going to Cleveland, they can have the same teacher and would still turn out different results. The environment is a very important factor in a child's education.
As a teacher, you can work as hard as you can. You can try every teaching method in the book. You can extend the school year (very bad idea in my opinion). But, if those kids when they leave the school are going back to a home where mom is sitting in front of the tv with a bottle of rum and dad's not even in the picture, those kids are nine times out of ten not going to reach the same level as the kids who had the support system I had. Will there be that tenth kid that everyone will hold up as an example of rising above it? Of course. But the majority of the time the cycle of illiteracy and poverty will continue.
Reform shouldn't just be in the schools themselves. We need to try to reform America in general. More and more there are single parent families. And if you look at the statistics that makes the children more at risk for early pregnancy, drug use, even suicide. We need to be teaching our young people about responsibility and the consequences of their actions. Instead we just keep trying to come up with the easy way out of everything. There are boys getting multiple girls pregnant and not caring about a single one of the girls or the babies. If we can't try to fix the problem at it's core it will never be fixed.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Cleveland: The City Where Stupidity Thrives
Well, Cleveland has managed to annoy me twice in one month. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but you would think that eventually there would be an end to the stupidity that is the city of Cleveland. Alas there is not.
Annoyance number one - charging people a $100 fine for not recycling. First they decided they were going to take 2.5 million dollars (because Cleveland obviously can't use that anywhere else) and put it into high tech trash cans that monitor your trash habits. Let's forget about the failing schools, the run down houses, the fact that we're laying off cops and firemen. Let's put 2.5 million dollars towards high tech trash cans. That seems like the best use for our money right? Not to mention this is 100% ILLEGAL. If you go on the city of Clevelands Waste Management Website there is a frequently asked questions section. One of the questions is "Is recycling manditory in the City of Cleveland?" And what do you think the answer is? The answer given by the City of Cleveland on its website? "Currently there is NO MANDATE ON RECYCLING...." How can you fine people for doing something that is completely legal? It is 100% legal to put recyclables in the trash in Cleveland. So why does the City of Cleveland think that they can go through your trash and charge you $100 if they find that over 10% of that trash was recyclable? The only thing I can think of is that they are money hungry. Look at all the politicians that they're finding who are misusing government funds (your money and my money). With people in charge like this this city is only going to get worse not better.
Annoyance number 2 - traffic cameras. They are the worst thing to ever be invented in my opinion. First lets look at their claim that they make the road safer. According to the Washington Post crashes resulting in injuries and fatalities went UP 81% after a red light camera was intalled at an intersection. UP not down. Also they are an invasion of our privacy pure and simple. A camera is not a police officer. A camera does not have the right to give me a ticket, end of story. How are they sure that their technology is working 100% all of the time? I know my technology doesn't. Technology fails me quite often actually. Also how do they know it was the owner of the car driving. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? How can they prove without a shadow of a doubt that it was pysically me in that car if all they snapped was a picture of my license plate? The prosecuter is supposed to PROVE the defendant is guilty. I don't see how a camera can do that, even if they get shots of peoples faces they're usually too grainy to tell anything. I would recommend that everyone read the following article because she goes into great detail about exactly why these new redlight and speed cameras are unconstitional :
www.clevelandstatelawreview.org/55/issue4/gshannon.pdf
Not to mention they place them in spots where it is absolutely wrong. They put them at the bottom of steep hills and in spots where theres quick speed changes. How often are you able to maintain a speed of 25 when going down a steep hill? They aren't doing this for safety. They're doing this for money. Once again it comes back to the government in Cleveland being money hungry. If Cleveland wants to know why everyone is running in the opposite direction it's that right there. They want to grab up as much money as possible for themselves and then spend the rest on stupid unimportant crap like high tech trash cans.
I guess we'll all just have to stand back and watch Cleveland burn itself to the ground.
Annoyance number one - charging people a $100 fine for not recycling. First they decided they were going to take 2.5 million dollars (because Cleveland obviously can't use that anywhere else) and put it into high tech trash cans that monitor your trash habits. Let's forget about the failing schools, the run down houses, the fact that we're laying off cops and firemen. Let's put 2.5 million dollars towards high tech trash cans. That seems like the best use for our money right? Not to mention this is 100% ILLEGAL. If you go on the city of Clevelands Waste Management Website there is a frequently asked questions section. One of the questions is "Is recycling manditory in the City of Cleveland?" And what do you think the answer is? The answer given by the City of Cleveland on its website? "Currently there is NO MANDATE ON RECYCLING...." How can you fine people for doing something that is completely legal? It is 100% legal to put recyclables in the trash in Cleveland. So why does the City of Cleveland think that they can go through your trash and charge you $100 if they find that over 10% of that trash was recyclable? The only thing I can think of is that they are money hungry. Look at all the politicians that they're finding who are misusing government funds (your money and my money). With people in charge like this this city is only going to get worse not better.
Annoyance number 2 - traffic cameras. They are the worst thing to ever be invented in my opinion. First lets look at their claim that they make the road safer. According to the Washington Post crashes resulting in injuries and fatalities went UP 81% after a red light camera was intalled at an intersection. UP not down. Also they are an invasion of our privacy pure and simple. A camera is not a police officer. A camera does not have the right to give me a ticket, end of story. How are they sure that their technology is working 100% all of the time? I know my technology doesn't. Technology fails me quite often actually. Also how do they know it was the owner of the car driving. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? How can they prove without a shadow of a doubt that it was pysically me in that car if all they snapped was a picture of my license plate? The prosecuter is supposed to PROVE the defendant is guilty. I don't see how a camera can do that, even if they get shots of peoples faces they're usually too grainy to tell anything. I would recommend that everyone read the following article because she goes into great detail about exactly why these new redlight and speed cameras are unconstitional :
www.clevelandstatelawreview.org/55/issue4/gshannon.pdf
Not to mention they place them in spots where it is absolutely wrong. They put them at the bottom of steep hills and in spots where theres quick speed changes. How often are you able to maintain a speed of 25 when going down a steep hill? They aren't doing this for safety. They're doing this for money. Once again it comes back to the government in Cleveland being money hungry. If Cleveland wants to know why everyone is running in the opposite direction it's that right there. They want to grab up as much money as possible for themselves and then spend the rest on stupid unimportant crap like high tech trash cans.
I guess we'll all just have to stand back and watch Cleveland burn itself to the ground.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Raising of Children (or not)
Over the past few years of working in retail I have realized two things. First, the customer is more often then not wrong. Second, there are a lot of children out there who have been inadequately raised. I'm not saying I'm an amazing parent, because I'm not even a parent, but there are lines that need to be drawn.
The first thing that blows my mind is that parents bring their children to a store and then let them run wild as if all the employees are their own personal babysitters. I have seen children run down aisles, skate down aisles, drive scooters down aisles, bounce balls, throw balls at each other, throw balls over shelving units, the list goes on. There are a few recent events though that have me seriously wondering what parents are thinking.
The other day I was straightening an aisle and I hear a bunch of stuff fall over somewhere near me. I go around the corner and there is a small baby, yes baby, crawling along the bottom of the Maybelline section. She is pulling all the nail polish out of the unit and throwing it on the floor while her parents browse the DVD's. When her mother sees me she quickly runs to her baby and says she will clean it up. This child is not even a year old. I am not exaggerating. There is no excuse for letting a baby that small crawl around on a dirty store floor let alone the fact that she was trashing my section.
Then there was the incident of the children and the scooter. I had a customer come up to me and say that she was literally knocked over by a child riding a scooter down the aisles. So I grab my manager and he tells the little girl she needs to stop riding it. She is about 5 or 6 and she's with 2 boys about 7 to 9 years old. So I go back to doing my work and I look over and one of the little boys is now riding the scooter around. This has gone on for 10 minutes now and there is no parent in sight. So I go up and make the kids bring me to their parents. They bring me to their mother and I ask her to please take away the scooter because they are running over customers. She was completely across the store from where her children were acting up.
This third story is the one that takes the cake. There is a group of preteen/teen boys that come into our store. The first time they were noticed was when they bought some milk, went outside, tried to have one of them drink the whole gallon, and promptly vomitted all over the side walk. One of our stock boys had to go out and clean it. They have also stollen condoms on a couple different occasions. Their most recent incident was today. They were over by the Zippo lighter display being rowdy and I was keeping an eye on them. One of them asked me if they could buy a lighter and I said I didn't think they were allowed (we only sell lighters to adults). So then one of the larger boys decides he's going to start yelling at me. So I call over my manager because this little boy although larger than me is not larger than my practically 7 foot tall manager. They calm down once he gets there and I again tell them they can't buy the lighter. They complain as they're walking away about how Wal Mart apparently sells them Zippo lighters. About ten minutes later I realized one of my fragrance testers is gone...
I would never have dreamed of acting this way when I was a kid. I would have been in an amazing amount of trouble if I had treated any adult with the kind of disrespect that kids are showing nowadays. I for one am going to do everything I can to instill respect in my children. I would be horrified and humiliated if my children acted in the manner that so many I see act. I know I'm not going to be a perfect parent, no parent is, but I would hope that my children would at least not turn out to be like these.
The first thing that blows my mind is that parents bring their children to a store and then let them run wild as if all the employees are their own personal babysitters. I have seen children run down aisles, skate down aisles, drive scooters down aisles, bounce balls, throw balls at each other, throw balls over shelving units, the list goes on. There are a few recent events though that have me seriously wondering what parents are thinking.
The other day I was straightening an aisle and I hear a bunch of stuff fall over somewhere near me. I go around the corner and there is a small baby, yes baby, crawling along the bottom of the Maybelline section. She is pulling all the nail polish out of the unit and throwing it on the floor while her parents browse the DVD's. When her mother sees me she quickly runs to her baby and says she will clean it up. This child is not even a year old. I am not exaggerating. There is no excuse for letting a baby that small crawl around on a dirty store floor let alone the fact that she was trashing my section.
Then there was the incident of the children and the scooter. I had a customer come up to me and say that she was literally knocked over by a child riding a scooter down the aisles. So I grab my manager and he tells the little girl she needs to stop riding it. She is about 5 or 6 and she's with 2 boys about 7 to 9 years old. So I go back to doing my work and I look over and one of the little boys is now riding the scooter around. This has gone on for 10 minutes now and there is no parent in sight. So I go up and make the kids bring me to their parents. They bring me to their mother and I ask her to please take away the scooter because they are running over customers. She was completely across the store from where her children were acting up.
This third story is the one that takes the cake. There is a group of preteen/teen boys that come into our store. The first time they were noticed was when they bought some milk, went outside, tried to have one of them drink the whole gallon, and promptly vomitted all over the side walk. One of our stock boys had to go out and clean it. They have also stollen condoms on a couple different occasions. Their most recent incident was today. They were over by the Zippo lighter display being rowdy and I was keeping an eye on them. One of them asked me if they could buy a lighter and I said I didn't think they were allowed (we only sell lighters to adults). So then one of the larger boys decides he's going to start yelling at me. So I call over my manager because this little boy although larger than me is not larger than my practically 7 foot tall manager. They calm down once he gets there and I again tell them they can't buy the lighter. They complain as they're walking away about how Wal Mart apparently sells them Zippo lighters. About ten minutes later I realized one of my fragrance testers is gone...
I would never have dreamed of acting this way when I was a kid. I would have been in an amazing amount of trouble if I had treated any adult with the kind of disrespect that kids are showing nowadays. I for one am going to do everything I can to instill respect in my children. I would be horrified and humiliated if my children acted in the manner that so many I see act. I know I'm not going to be a perfect parent, no parent is, but I would hope that my children would at least not turn out to be like these.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Politics
My parents raised me as a Conservative. My school raised me as a Liberal. I think I've ended up somewhere in the middle. For this reason I voted for Obama. Like many people my age I was naive, hopeful, and duped. I have always believed in helping my fellow man. I think that when someone falls on hard times we should help them, but lately we as a country havent been doing that. We've created a whole generation of lazy leeches. I am not saying that everyone on food stamps, unemployment, welfare, etc. is one of these leeches, but let me just give you some examples. You are only supposed to get 26 weeks of unemployment. But I know people who have been on unemployment for YEARS. And what are some of them spending their unemployment pay on? Drugs, alcohol, rock concerts...that's what our tax dollars are being spent on. Not to mention the fact that you can recieve disability if you're too fat to work. Since when is eating too much a disability. That's just being selfish and lazy.
If you knew that you could be on unemployment for years how hard would you try to get a job? I'm sorry if you had an amazing job where you were making $100,000 a year. Let's say you're a family of 4. The poverty line is about $22,000 for that size family. Other people make it on that much. The federal government who you so want to give you money says you can make it on that much. As far as I'm concerned as soon as you and you're wife find jobs that can give you each $11,000 a year you no longer need the taxpayers money. I only make $12,000 a year. Why should my money go to keeping someone else at a standard of living higher than my own. What if Bill Gates was to randomly become unemployed? He's used to making billions of dollars. Well according to the logic of most it is now the goverments job to help him maintain that same amount of earning while being unemployed. How angry would you be if the government was paying out unemployment to Bill Gates? Well, that's how a lot of us feel when we make barely above the poverty level and our tax dollars are going to people who are sitting around for years because they can't find a job with a comparable salary to the one they had. I literally make a little over a thousand dollars above the poverty line for one person, and there are people out there who are using my tax money to go to concerts I can't afford to go to.
The one thing that finally turned me against Obama was this new health care bill. I do believe that health care is a right and not a privilage. I dont, however, believe that people should be forced to have health care lest they go to prison. I also don't think it is the governments place to force businesses to give their employees anything, even health care. One thing I've learned from all of this is that we don't need more government, we need less. The governement is crippling this country, and if anyone blames a specific party you're just ignorant. Both parties are in it for themselves. Both parties are to blame.
"The reason the country continues its drift toward socialism and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have a concern for what is good for the country."
If you knew that you could be on unemployment for years how hard would you try to get a job? I'm sorry if you had an amazing job where you were making $100,000 a year. Let's say you're a family of 4. The poverty line is about $22,000 for that size family. Other people make it on that much. The federal government who you so want to give you money says you can make it on that much. As far as I'm concerned as soon as you and you're wife find jobs that can give you each $11,000 a year you no longer need the taxpayers money. I only make $12,000 a year. Why should my money go to keeping someone else at a standard of living higher than my own. What if Bill Gates was to randomly become unemployed? He's used to making billions of dollars. Well according to the logic of most it is now the goverments job to help him maintain that same amount of earning while being unemployed. How angry would you be if the government was paying out unemployment to Bill Gates? Well, that's how a lot of us feel when we make barely above the poverty level and our tax dollars are going to people who are sitting around for years because they can't find a job with a comparable salary to the one they had. I literally make a little over a thousand dollars above the poverty line for one person, and there are people out there who are using my tax money to go to concerts I can't afford to go to.
The one thing that finally turned me against Obama was this new health care bill. I do believe that health care is a right and not a privilage. I dont, however, believe that people should be forced to have health care lest they go to prison. I also don't think it is the governments place to force businesses to give their employees anything, even health care. One thing I've learned from all of this is that we don't need more government, we need less. The governement is crippling this country, and if anyone blames a specific party you're just ignorant. Both parties are in it for themselves. Both parties are to blame.
"The reason the country continues its drift toward socialism and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have a concern for what is good for the country."
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sex in Today's World
*Mature Content*
I was listening to the radio a few days ago on the way to work. I was shocked when I heard a conversation between a woman and the DJ's. She was saying that she had in the past watched her boyfriend have sex with another woman. The DJ's asked if she had been jealous at all and she said that no, unlike most women she was able to differentiate between sex and a relationship. The DJ's, who were male, thought this was amazing and that they couldn't believe her boyfriend was no longer with her, because she was so amazing. To me, what she said as a slap in the face to women everywhere. Of course her boyfriend isn't with her anymore, he obviously didn't love her enough in the first place to devote himself solely to her. The fact that there are people out there who are okay with being used like that astounds me. How has it come to the point where sex means so little that the MAJORITY of American's seem to think that sleeping around is NATURAL?
I understand that I have what is considered to be a very "outdated" view on sex. I believe that you should have sex with one person and one person only for the entirety of your life. That is what I believe and I'm not going to apologize for believing it. I am even willing to understand the people who will have sex with multiple people throughout their life as they fall in and out of love. I will not, however, understand or condone the people who seem to think it's okay and normal to sleep with random strangers.
While reading the information given from the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) I saw that the biggest rises in STD's were in those people who were 15-24. They were also much higher in women then they were in men. I saw a random fact in a Womens's Day magazine saying that 25% of all Americans have an incurable STD. I thought that was shocking so I started searching for some more statistics online and I came across a webpage: www.avert.org. I was poking around the site and decided to check out the teen page to see what kinds of information they were giving the young people who seem to fall into this category of having the most STD's. I was literally shocked to find there is an entire page under the TEEN section for casual sex. It of course says that casual sex has risks but in one paragraph it says "As a young person exploration and experimentation can be very appealing and you have the right to have fun when you're young and to experience things that are unfamiliar and different. Being prepared will also allow you to carry on enjoying yourself and not have to stop due to some horrible STD, or becoming infected with HIV....being responsible doesn't mean being boring!"
So the website is telling TEENS that so long as the "protect themselves" they can have casuals sex so that they aren't "boring". Condoms are NOT 100% effective against pregnancy or STD's. On the FDA's website www.fda.gov they specifically say the only way to prevent STDs is to not have sex. They say "sex with condoms isn't totally safe sex, but it is less risky sex." To tell impressionable teenagers that all they have to do in order to not be boring and stay safe while having casual sex is to use a condom is just negligent! No wonder people of that age group have the highest rate of STDs.
I was listening to the radio a few days ago on the way to work. I was shocked when I heard a conversation between a woman and the DJ's. She was saying that she had in the past watched her boyfriend have sex with another woman. The DJ's asked if she had been jealous at all and she said that no, unlike most women she was able to differentiate between sex and a relationship. The DJ's, who were male, thought this was amazing and that they couldn't believe her boyfriend was no longer with her, because she was so amazing. To me, what she said as a slap in the face to women everywhere. Of course her boyfriend isn't with her anymore, he obviously didn't love her enough in the first place to devote himself solely to her. The fact that there are people out there who are okay with being used like that astounds me. How has it come to the point where sex means so little that the MAJORITY of American's seem to think that sleeping around is NATURAL?
I understand that I have what is considered to be a very "outdated" view on sex. I believe that you should have sex with one person and one person only for the entirety of your life. That is what I believe and I'm not going to apologize for believing it. I am even willing to understand the people who will have sex with multiple people throughout their life as they fall in and out of love. I will not, however, understand or condone the people who seem to think it's okay and normal to sleep with random strangers.
While reading the information given from the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) I saw that the biggest rises in STD's were in those people who were 15-24. They were also much higher in women then they were in men. I saw a random fact in a Womens's Day magazine saying that 25% of all Americans have an incurable STD. I thought that was shocking so I started searching for some more statistics online and I came across a webpage: www.avert.org. I was poking around the site and decided to check out the teen page to see what kinds of information they were giving the young people who seem to fall into this category of having the most STD's. I was literally shocked to find there is an entire page under the TEEN section for casual sex. It of course says that casual sex has risks but in one paragraph it says "As a young person exploration and experimentation can be very appealing and you have the right to have fun when you're young and to experience things that are unfamiliar and different. Being prepared will also allow you to carry on enjoying yourself and not have to stop due to some horrible STD, or becoming infected with HIV....being responsible doesn't mean being boring!"
So the website is telling TEENS that so long as the "protect themselves" they can have casuals sex so that they aren't "boring". Condoms are NOT 100% effective against pregnancy or STD's. On the FDA's website www.fda.gov they specifically say the only way to prevent STDs is to not have sex. They say "sex with condoms isn't totally safe sex, but it is less risky sex." To tell impressionable teenagers that all they have to do in order to not be boring and stay safe while having casual sex is to use a condom is just negligent! No wonder people of that age group have the highest rate of STDs.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Gamer World
This weekend Timothy taught me how to play Halo. Now I have always liked video games. We had an original Nintendo when I was a kid. We loved playing the original Mario, Duck Hunt, Zelda, etc. Later we also got Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Playstation 2, XBox, and Gamecube. The games I always liked had some kind of story behind them like the Zelda games and Dark Cloud. I like working through a whole storyline. Saving a person or trying to accomplish something. When the Wii came out I loved it. We have one and my favorite game on it is Mario Party at the moment. I still need to get and play Twilight Princess though. We also have an XBox and a Playstation 2.
I have never been into the whole first person thing or the gun thing. I much prefer using a sword when playing a game. I decided though that since he plays it so much it would probably be a way for us to spend more time together if I learned how to play. He also decided that it would give him someone to play with whenever he felt like it. In other words: a win-win situation. So he started out by having us just play against each other. He taught me about all the different weapons and vehicles. Now a lot of you parents out there might think that when your kids are playing these games they're just being lazy bums and I'm sure thats true, but these games takes skill. The amount of things you have to be aware of at once is ridiculous. You have to pay attention to your little "nav screen" to see if theres any red dots coming at you. This is the enemy. You have to look around to see if anyones sniping. You have to pay attention to make sure you're not running out of bullets. You have to try to jump out of the way of other people and cars while shooting. It is ridiculous.
We practiced for awhile and then we went on XBox Live. I started out only getting one kill every game but now I'm up to get four to six. This is of course no where near Timothy's skill level but it's a start. I have however learned that there are a lot of annoying people in the Gamer World of XBox Live. From names like "IHAVEWORMS" to "THE GINJA NINJA" I really don't know what people think about. I guess it's the same as when you see people with really annoying email addresses. Then theres the people who have their little headsets on and think it's funny to giggle obnoxiously or burp into the mic. Everyone is trying to enjoy a game and I'm sorry but you're ruining it. I don't know if it's just them being insecure in real life and trying to take it out on people who have no way of ever finding out who they are or what but the game would be a lot more enjoyable if they didnt let you hook up a mic.
It's not the kind of game that I'm going to be playing on my own when I'm bored but it's nice to be know how so that if Tim wants to play or he needs a fourth when he has people over I'm able to. For the most part I think I'll be sticking to the Wii in my alone time gaming.
I have never been into the whole first person thing or the gun thing. I much prefer using a sword when playing a game. I decided though that since he plays it so much it would probably be a way for us to spend more time together if I learned how to play. He also decided that it would give him someone to play with whenever he felt like it. In other words: a win-win situation. So he started out by having us just play against each other. He taught me about all the different weapons and vehicles. Now a lot of you parents out there might think that when your kids are playing these games they're just being lazy bums and I'm sure thats true, but these games takes skill. The amount of things you have to be aware of at once is ridiculous. You have to pay attention to your little "nav screen" to see if theres any red dots coming at you. This is the enemy. You have to look around to see if anyones sniping. You have to pay attention to make sure you're not running out of bullets. You have to try to jump out of the way of other people and cars while shooting. It is ridiculous.
We practiced for awhile and then we went on XBox Live. I started out only getting one kill every game but now I'm up to get four to six. This is of course no where near Timothy's skill level but it's a start. I have however learned that there are a lot of annoying people in the Gamer World of XBox Live. From names like "IHAVEWORMS" to "THE GINJA NINJA" I really don't know what people think about. I guess it's the same as when you see people with really annoying email addresses. Then theres the people who have their little headsets on and think it's funny to giggle obnoxiously or burp into the mic. Everyone is trying to enjoy a game and I'm sorry but you're ruining it. I don't know if it's just them being insecure in real life and trying to take it out on people who have no way of ever finding out who they are or what but the game would be a lot more enjoyable if they didnt let you hook up a mic.
It's not the kind of game that I'm going to be playing on my own when I'm bored but it's nice to be know how so that if Tim wants to play or he needs a fourth when he has people over I'm able to. For the most part I think I'll be sticking to the Wii in my alone time gaming.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Rolling with the Punches
Everyone makes plans in their lives. Whether it be a simple plan to get together on a Friday night or a long term plan like saving money to buy a house. One of my biggest problems is learning to deal with things not going according to my plans. I hate when people cancel on me; I very rarely cancel on anyone if its in any way avoidable. I just hate planning something out in my head and having everything turn out completely different. I stress myself out way to much and anyone who knows me can testify to that.
Timothy and I have a lot of plans for our future. We have a lot of things we have to save money for and a lot of things we need to accomplish. We both work very hard at full time jobs, I'm continuing with school in the fall and he's working on getting his CDL. Our plan is to save up $20,000 for a down payment on a house. This was going to be accomplished in 2 years but now that may not happen. If we do end up having to get our own place and save at the same time it will take 5 years to accomplish this. So as you can probably guess this is stressing me out immensly.
I have to just keep telling myself that we're still young and we have time, but in todays society we're being told to save save save for everything and that you're never to young to start. We don't technically need to have a house until we have kids, which wont be until im about 30, but it was just something I really got my hopes up for. I imagined myself decorating everything exactly the way I wanted it. Coming home to a place that was mine. So I guess that's why I get so disappointed when plans fall through. I let myself get my hopes up. I paint a picture in my head and I get way too excited.
The reality is that things rarely work out the way you plan them. That you need to be prepared for there to be bumps and twists in the road. The only person you can control is yourself and when other people are added into the equation anything can and will happen. No matter how hard you work to build something, there's always a possibilty that a tornado will come and blow it down in a matter of moments.
The only thing to do is just keep on working as hard as I can and as long as I have my Timothy by my side everything is going to be just fine.
Timothy and I have a lot of plans for our future. We have a lot of things we have to save money for and a lot of things we need to accomplish. We both work very hard at full time jobs, I'm continuing with school in the fall and he's working on getting his CDL. Our plan is to save up $20,000 for a down payment on a house. This was going to be accomplished in 2 years but now that may not happen. If we do end up having to get our own place and save at the same time it will take 5 years to accomplish this. So as you can probably guess this is stressing me out immensly.
I have to just keep telling myself that we're still young and we have time, but in todays society we're being told to save save save for everything and that you're never to young to start. We don't technically need to have a house until we have kids, which wont be until im about 30, but it was just something I really got my hopes up for. I imagined myself decorating everything exactly the way I wanted it. Coming home to a place that was mine. So I guess that's why I get so disappointed when plans fall through. I let myself get my hopes up. I paint a picture in my head and I get way too excited.
The reality is that things rarely work out the way you plan them. That you need to be prepared for there to be bumps and twists in the road. The only person you can control is yourself and when other people are added into the equation anything can and will happen. No matter how hard you work to build something, there's always a possibilty that a tornado will come and blow it down in a matter of moments.
The only thing to do is just keep on working as hard as I can and as long as I have my Timothy by my side everything is going to be just fine.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Beginning
So today is my one year dating anniversary with my fiance and soul mate for life, Timothy. I've decided that this is a good time to start recording the goings on in my life. I used to be over on Livejournal but I haven'e been writing over there in quite some time. I tried to start up again but it's just not the same anymore. I decided that since it is my one year dating anniversary I would go ahead and let my first blog be about my better half.
We've known each other for probably 10 or so years now. He was my best friends little brother. I never really paid any attention to him growing up. I was a bit of a snob with absolutely no reason to be one. A few years back we both for one reason or another decided that we hated each other. This stemmed mostly from misinformation and not taking any time to get to know one another. Well, in January of 2009 I moved back to Ohio from a small month long stint I had in Houston, Texas and my best friend shortly thereafter had a fight with her man and moved into a place we call Blanchester. By hanging out a lot with said best friend I also started hanging out with her little brother who was no longer little and for some reason not half as bad as I thought. We started talking and texting and iming. All the modern day ways that those my age begin communicating. Well somewhere around 1:00 am on July 1st, 2009 I asked him to date me and he said yes. Now I know all the little rules about girls waiting for the guys and playing hard to get. All I can tell you is that what works for one person or couple doesn't have to work for anybody else. There's someone out there for everyone as far as I'm concerned and when you find them, you don't want to let any time or rules stand between you and being with them.
He came over the next day and I cooked him the first of many meals I would cook him since. Manicotti. Now mind you, within certain circles, specifically my family, my manicotti is infamously amazing. We also watched a movie, Paul Blart Mall Cop, during which I took the oppurtunity to continue my making of the first moves and snuggled up all good and close next to him. Which was apparently a good move since the next day he texted me and said that holding me in his arms was one of the top points in his life. We played a little guitar hero and then parted ways afer making plans for the 4th of July. When that rolled around it was a disaster.
I worked a 12 hour shift and then hurried over to Blanchester, because now Timothy was also moving in over there. I had been feeling sick all day but I was not missing my chance to see him. Well turns out the sick feeling was kidney stones and Timothy ended up having to rush me to the hospital. He was amazing though. Stayed with me the whole night in the ER. When I got discharged he filled my prescription and took me back to the house. I couldnt make it back to my place so I was going to sleep there but a couple hours later I was being rushed back to the hospital because I couldnt keep anything down and was ridiculously dehydrated. He stayed with me until I was put in a room and after making sure I was okay I told him to go home and take a nap. Instead he completely detailed my car and came back with a hairbrush and toothbrush.
I can honestly say that during that stay at the hospital I fell in love with him. I was no where near ready to admit it at the time but looking back, that was it. When I looked into his beautiful blue eyes and all I could see was his concern for me and how much he wanted to take care of me that was it. The first time he kissed me was about my Silver Ford Focus on Blanchester as I was leaving to go back home one night. The first time he said I love you to me was a couple weeks later down by Lake Erie. We were at Tuttle Park in Madison and standing out on a rock. He hugged me and said "I love you Holly." Now it would have been a perfect moment but me and my cautious self who wasn't willing to yet admit was happening said and I quote, "I'm not there yet." I have yet to live that down. I said it a few weeks later at my townhouse in Stow.
After about a month into the relationship we barely even spent a night apart. I remember when school started up and I tried to stay down in Stow for a whole week but I think I only lasted four days before I drove up and flung myself back into his arms. We traded off by spending only one night apart each week. The other weekdays I spent up at Blanchester and the weekends he spent down in Stow. We moved into his parents house together once he decided to leave Blanchester and that is where we are currently are staying. We totally redid that room we are staying in. Laid down carpet, painted the walls, put in a new light fixture, etc. Our first big purchase together was a bed. We were sleeping on a futon but one of the cats decided to make it into a litterbox and there really is no cleaning cat pee out of a futon matress.
I decided I didn't like Kent at all. I skipped class half the time. So I'm going to be going to Lakeland in the fall for Early Childhood Education. I want to be certified by the state. When we finally have kids I want to be able to have an in home daycare so I get to raise my kids. I also transferred to a new store. I was working in the Drug Mart in Hudson but I transferred up to the newest store in Highland Heights where I am currently Head of Cosmetics. Timothy and I work only a street apart now. I love our life together and I can't wait to get married, which will be in the summer of 2012, date to be decided.
In conclusion, all I have to say is that there is no right and wrong way to fall in love. There is no timeline, there is no sequence of events, there is just two souls realizing that they can't live without the other.
We've known each other for probably 10 or so years now. He was my best friends little brother. I never really paid any attention to him growing up. I was a bit of a snob with absolutely no reason to be one. A few years back we both for one reason or another decided that we hated each other. This stemmed mostly from misinformation and not taking any time to get to know one another. Well, in January of 2009 I moved back to Ohio from a small month long stint I had in Houston, Texas and my best friend shortly thereafter had a fight with her man and moved into a place we call Blanchester. By hanging out a lot with said best friend I also started hanging out with her little brother who was no longer little and for some reason not half as bad as I thought. We started talking and texting and iming. All the modern day ways that those my age begin communicating. Well somewhere around 1:00 am on July 1st, 2009 I asked him to date me and he said yes. Now I know all the little rules about girls waiting for the guys and playing hard to get. All I can tell you is that what works for one person or couple doesn't have to work for anybody else. There's someone out there for everyone as far as I'm concerned and when you find them, you don't want to let any time or rules stand between you and being with them.
He came over the next day and I cooked him the first of many meals I would cook him since. Manicotti. Now mind you, within certain circles, specifically my family, my manicotti is infamously amazing. We also watched a movie, Paul Blart Mall Cop, during which I took the oppurtunity to continue my making of the first moves and snuggled up all good and close next to him. Which was apparently a good move since the next day he texted me and said that holding me in his arms was one of the top points in his life. We played a little guitar hero and then parted ways afer making plans for the 4th of July. When that rolled around it was a disaster.
I worked a 12 hour shift and then hurried over to Blanchester, because now Timothy was also moving in over there. I had been feeling sick all day but I was not missing my chance to see him. Well turns out the sick feeling was kidney stones and Timothy ended up having to rush me to the hospital. He was amazing though. Stayed with me the whole night in the ER. When I got discharged he filled my prescription and took me back to the house. I couldnt make it back to my place so I was going to sleep there but a couple hours later I was being rushed back to the hospital because I couldnt keep anything down and was ridiculously dehydrated. He stayed with me until I was put in a room and after making sure I was okay I told him to go home and take a nap. Instead he completely detailed my car and came back with a hairbrush and toothbrush.
I can honestly say that during that stay at the hospital I fell in love with him. I was no where near ready to admit it at the time but looking back, that was it. When I looked into his beautiful blue eyes and all I could see was his concern for me and how much he wanted to take care of me that was it. The first time he kissed me was about my Silver Ford Focus on Blanchester as I was leaving to go back home one night. The first time he said I love you to me was a couple weeks later down by Lake Erie. We were at Tuttle Park in Madison and standing out on a rock. He hugged me and said "I love you Holly." Now it would have been a perfect moment but me and my cautious self who wasn't willing to yet admit was happening said and I quote, "I'm not there yet." I have yet to live that down. I said it a few weeks later at my townhouse in Stow.
After about a month into the relationship we barely even spent a night apart. I remember when school started up and I tried to stay down in Stow for a whole week but I think I only lasted four days before I drove up and flung myself back into his arms. We traded off by spending only one night apart each week. The other weekdays I spent up at Blanchester and the weekends he spent down in Stow. We moved into his parents house together once he decided to leave Blanchester and that is where we are currently are staying. We totally redid that room we are staying in. Laid down carpet, painted the walls, put in a new light fixture, etc. Our first big purchase together was a bed. We were sleeping on a futon but one of the cats decided to make it into a litterbox and there really is no cleaning cat pee out of a futon matress.
I decided I didn't like Kent at all. I skipped class half the time. So I'm going to be going to Lakeland in the fall for Early Childhood Education. I want to be certified by the state. When we finally have kids I want to be able to have an in home daycare so I get to raise my kids. I also transferred to a new store. I was working in the Drug Mart in Hudson but I transferred up to the newest store in Highland Heights where I am currently Head of Cosmetics. Timothy and I work only a street apart now. I love our life together and I can't wait to get married, which will be in the summer of 2012, date to be decided.
In conclusion, all I have to say is that there is no right and wrong way to fall in love. There is no timeline, there is no sequence of events, there is just two souls realizing that they can't live without the other.
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