Done for the year

Since this is the last blog of the semester, I guess I’ll do the normal thing & reflect upon my first semester here at Virginia Tech. It has definitely been filled with it ups and downs. I can’t pretend that I’m not excited to be going home in a week. When I lived in Hampton, I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to get out of that place. It was a city with a small town feel. I had been in classes with the same kids since elementary school and I was definitely ready for a change. Sadly, a lot of my friends decided that they wanted to stay close to home & go to schools in the local area such as Old Dominion, Christopher Newport, & Thomas Nelson. They are still doing the same things that they did in high school & can go home at any point on time. But college is a little different for me. I am stuck in Blacksburg unless I plan to go home for like a week in advance.
It has also been a big culture shock. My high school in Hampton was mostly black. There were a good number of white people but it was by far mostly black. It has been such a culture shock for me not to see that many people who look like me in my classes or walking across the Drillfield. It’s not easy being trapped 5 hours away with no one to relate to. So it took some time for me to adjust to this. I have recently started watching BET because I miss black people so much, which I never did at home.
Another big adjustment for me has been making friends. I had my set group of friends in Hampton & I never really had to make new friends. One reason is that because not many people actually move to Hampton. Most people have lived there all their lives & probably will never leave, which is their choice. But I can’t imagine living there until I’m 89, which is why I came to Virginia Tech; I was more than ready to experience new things. But anyways, I never really learned how to be outgoing & make new friends. So coming to Tech with no friends meant that I had to make all new ones so I wasn’t a recluse who stayed in my room all day. I do think this made me pick up valuable social skills that I’ll need later in life. But for right now, it was pretty uncomfortable. A lot of people seemed to come here with friends from high school. I didn’t have that comfort zone to stay in when I first got to Tech so I pretty much just hung out with my hall mates all the time. I still hang out with them a lot because they are amazing people but now I’ve made friends outside of my dorm so school is a lot better.
Now my grades aren’t looking so hot. I am not doing well at all. My goal for this semester has officially become to not be on academic probation. That’s all I can hope for right about now. And it makes me angry when I hear about the things that they’re doing at other colleges! They’re learning about high school stuff & I’m stuck learning about a cells intermolecular membrane, stuff I could care less about. It’s so frustrating that other people are taking classes that they actually like & care about. But not me, at least not until next semester. I just want to save the environment or teach environmental science in high school. I think that may be one reason that I did not do as well as I expected, I am not interested in any of the classes that I’m taking. It’s very hard for me to put my all into something that I don’t care about & know that I will never need in the future. The bigger problem is definitely my study skills & study habits or lack thereof. I have never studied more than a day in advance of the test. So this pretty much screwed me over in most situations. Especially in biology where I didn’t pay attention in class or study that well. I am just hoping to get a D out of that class. It wasn’t so bad in chemistry because I had seen half of the material before so it was easier for me to pick some of that stuff up. I think I can pull a B- out in that class but the more realistic thing is a C+. I knew coming into college that I would definitely not do as well as I had done in high school. I’m not one of those people who sets goals really high so I just expected that I’d do about the average my first semester of college & then gradually get better. I have definitely created a big hole to dig myself out of for the next 3.5 years. So I used my one free pass this semester & all of the rest I really have to put the pedal to the metal. I have set my goal for next semester to become so much more motivated. I can’t have this whatever attitude about school anymore. My parents are paying thousands of dollars to send me to this great school & I would feel horrible if I screwed it up.
All in all this semester was one big learning experience. I learned how much I appreciate my mom & how much she did for me. I never had chores or a curfew so I could pretty much do what I wanted. I also miss how easy high school was. I could do nothing & still get an A. But college is a complete turnaround from this. The most valuable thing that I have learned is that I can either sink or swim in this place & no matter what happens, it is completely my fault. I have no one else to blame.

Thanksgiving Pt. 2

Since I talked about what I thought thanksgiving would be last week. I’ll blog about what actually happened this week. Sorry you guys have to read so much about my life.
I suppose I’ll start at the beginning. I went home Friday morning with two of my friends from Tech who live near me. The car ride was pretty boring because we were all ready to just get home & start our breaks. But, it was ok. We stopped in Charlottesville & uva for a second wearing all of our tech stuff. Needless to say it was pretty awkward & we really stuck out. But I don’t mind representing Virginia Tech wherever I go, even in a dreadful place like Charlottesville.
Once I got home from the car ride all I did was sleep for like two days straight. None of my close friends came home for their break until Tuesday or Wednesday so I had an extended time to myself. A couple of my friends stayed home to go to community college so I hung out with them while I waited for the “crew” to arrive. But I enjoyed getting that time with them because they are a fun group of people. The only drawback is that I am a VERY very poor college student. I did manage to spend only $20 during the whole week that I was home. Thanks to my lovely friends who love to pay for me.
Another thing I enjoyed about being home was seeing all of these great movies. While in Blacksburg, I never get to see new movies. The extent of my movie watching is like one movie every couple of weeks with my hall mates. The first movie I saw over break was Ninja Assassin. I saw it with one of my really good guy friends & he loved it. Me, not so much. It was FULL of blood. Seriously, every other scene was somebody cutting off somebody else’s head. I covered my eyes for half of the movie because I didn’t want to see all of the blood. The guy I was with had to keep asking me if I was going to make it through the movie. Another thing that bothered me was that it involved stealing children. And I love kids, so it hurt my little heart! Another movie that I saw was precious. This one was a tear jerker. It was about an overweight 17 year old girl who was still in junior high school. She had issues with being a dark skinned African American girl. Her mother was also very abusive & resented her for being raped by her father. She viewed it as Precious stealing her man. She was more concerned with keeping her man than the health & safety of her child. Precious also had two children by her own father, one of which has down syndrome. She also didn’t know how to read or write, barely knowing her ABC’s. This movie was wonderfully put together and it had an all star cast, lots of Oscar buzz surrounding this cast. Everybody played their role well & it really illustrated the struggles within the African American community, such as wanting to be lighter or even wanting to be white. And my biggest movie accomplishment was finishing the first season of the Golden Girls (I’m debating getting the second, not so sure I can afford it though :/). Not only did I get to finish it, but I also got to watch it with somebody really cool (the same guy that dragged me to ninja assassin). I don’t even remember how I convinced him to watch the Golden Girls, but he did. He didn’t like it so much, he didn’t laugh at all. But I was cracking up the entire time because these women are funny. But I guess it is not exactly the right show for 19 year old guys. Nevertheless, I enjoyed spending time with this guy and watching my girls at the same time.
Not I’ll actually talk about Thanksgiving day. It was pretty typical. My mom did end up cooking dinner because I came home & asked her to. It was just the normal Thanksgiving dinner. My mom, grandma, brother, great aunt, & I all ate dinner together at my mom’s house. It was very peaceful. And then later on that day I went to eat dinner at my paternal grandma’s house. After dinner, we all watched my beloved Dallas Cowboys beat up on the Oakland Raiders. It was simply wonderful watching them win! Normally, I wear my lucky Cowboy pants & slippers but since I wasn’t at home, I couldn’t. But they won without my lucky pants. It was really exciting, especially because I love to talk bad about all of the other NFL teams. But overall, my Thanksgiving day was pretty boring.
But the best thing about Thanksgiving break was definitely getting to see all of my old friends. It was very interesting to see how we’ve all changed! And believe me; all of us have definitely changed. Some of us have changed for the better, some of us for the worse, in my opinion. The biggest difference to me was the lingo that people came back with. I’ve met people from all over the country while here at Virginia Tech, but I haven’t picked up that much lingo. On the other hand, my friend at Howard came back & I could barely understand what she was saying. There was a legit language barrier. Another difference is that most of friends like to party a lot more. I don’t need to go out to have a good time but a few of my friends do. I enjoy spending time at home with friends; I don’t really need to go out to a club or a party every night to have a good time. Yet, some of my friends do now, so that was a big change. Before we could easily all hang out at somebody’s house & have a good time but it seems that now they’re looking for more, which is completely understandable. Overall, I completely loved my Thanksgiving break & I can’t wait to go back for winter break. I miss some of the people in little old Hampton already.

Thanksgiving!!!

I finished my blog & paper TWO days early. Feeling accomplished 
In anticipation of the upcoming Thanksgiving break, that’s what I’m going to blog about! I realllllly can’t wait to spend a whole week at home! Normally, I just go home for the weekend but that doesn’t give you a chance to settle in or anything. Most of the time I don’t even unpack my bag because I know I’ll be leaving a short 48 hours later. Another problem that this short break poses is that I never have enough time to accomplish anything. I have to balance spending time with my friends versus spending time at home with my family. And the last couple times my friends have won out which makes me feel like I’m neglecting my family. It’s just a no win situation. But all of that will be solved over this week long break! It gives me time to study for my chem lab final, spend time with my family, and my friends. In fact, there is a whole day over the break dedicated to family. That day would be thanksgiving.
My thanksgiving day is one of favorite holidays! It’s a day where you can just feast & feast & feast all day. I love to eat so this is just the perfect holiday for me. Thanksgiving is also the one day of the year that I like to get up early. Even though I’m 18, I love waking up to see the Macy’s Day parade. In recent years I think that viewership has declined but I still love it and I hope they do not take it off of TV! It’s just so fun to me to watch this huge parade and it is one of my goals to go & see it in perfect one day! EVEN BETTER, I would love to be in it! Omg that would be amazing. But I don’t think that’s going to happen so I’ll just stick to trying to get tickets. But I think they’re really expensive which is sad. Anyways, I do not understand how people don’t like this parade. It’s so historic and big. I think it’s the biggest parade in the world, it lasts 3 freaking hours! It’s just such a tradition for me that I can’t imagine a thanksgiving not watching it. It’s great to wake up in the morning, watch the parade, and smell the food cooking in the house.
I’m sure the way that I experience thanksgiving is not the way that others may celebrate it. For starts, both of my parents are only children so I do not have a lot of aunts and uncles. Secondly, my parents are divorced and hate each other, so I get to have thanksgiving twice, which I do not mind. So I live with my mom (when I’m not in college) so logically that is where I start my day. I wake up, watch the parade and maybe help cook a little. Normally, the only people at our dinner are my mom, my younger brother, my grandma, my great aunt, & I. I like it that way because it makes me feel close to them. Last year was the first time that thanksgiving was held at our house and I was not happy about it. Normally it is at my grandma’s house, but about a month before thanksgiving last year, my great grandma passed away. And with her passing away so close to the holidays, it was a little hard for us to eat in the house that she shared with my grandma. But it definitely wasn’t the same, which was hard for me. I’m one of those people who really values tradition and having it at my house really bothered me. It’s not as cozy for one. My house is pretty modern & large & open, like most houses built this century. But my grandma’s house on the other hand is smaller and cozier. It was probably built in the 1950’s or something so even the architecture is different. But all in all it was special because I got to spend time with my family.
As every child of divorced parents knows, you try not to choose a favorite parent. But sometimes you just can’t help it. My mom & her family is definitely my favorite by far. The reason is because I grew up around her family more so than my dad’s. My parents have been divorced ever since I was 7, so it’s not like its new or anything. After the separation, my mom, brother, & I moved from Richmond to Hampton. Hampton is about 10 minutes from my maternal grandma & 15 from my paternal. And somehow, I managed to spend most of my “grandparent” time with my maternal grandma & great grandma. They basically took the place of my dad in my life. So I do not feel like a guest when I visit the house. I don’t hesitate to take my shoes off and open the refrigerator like I live there.
But anyways, thanksgiving at my paternal grandma’s house is much more awkward. I don’t really like the way she cooks as much and I also don’t know her as well. I sometimes feel bad that I haven’t put as much into our relationship as I should have especially now that she is getting older. The only people who normally eat there are my grandma, step grandpa Mack, my dad, my younger brother, my dad, Mack’s sister, & myself. It’s pretty awkward for the most part. After dinner we all gather around the television and watch football. I always root for my boys (Dallas Cowboys)! This is really the only time that all of us interact together. Sometimes my two families eat at the same time (and we always start off at my mom’s simply because we’re there) so we come after everybody else has already eaten.
But despite all of my family drama, I’m super excited for this upcoming break & holiday.



Thats a pic of charlie brown at his thanksgiving dinner! its another one of my holiday favorites! i have it on dvd just in case i miss it on tv :):):):):)

Reality TV

I absolutely hate drunken people! Especially ones who decide to throw up everywhere. And especially ones who decide they want to throw up outside. That is just nasty & unsanitary. This one drunken girl may have cost me my perfect apartment in fox ridge! Everything was going well on the tour; my mom loved the apartment & thought the price was good. So we were leaving the apartment with the fox ridge guy & this girl stumbles out of the building next door, looking all disheveled & nasty, & throws up in the grass. This was just feet in front of my mom! Needless to say, she is not happy about me living off campus anymore nor is she happy about Fox Ridge. So I would just like to say thank you to random drunk girl for ruining my next year. Now that I have got that out of my system, on to what this blog is actually about, reality television.
I admit that I am a reality television addict. It is just so darn interesting! Every time I’m done watching a show, I wonder why I just wasted an hour of my life watching that crap but I still can’t wait until the next week. Some of my recent additions include for the love of ray j, my Antonio, real world/road rules challenge, & true life. All of these shows are on MTV or VH1, which says something. These channels were created to play music but now all they play are TV shows. The only time they play music is late at night/early in the mornings. I wouldn’t mind seeing more music on these channels instead of crappy TV shows. One of the shows that annoy me the most is Cribs. Why in the world would I want to see how much more celebrities have then I do? I just don’t get the appeal of the show. All it does is make me angry. Especially now since they have teen cribs where it shows rich kids & how much they have. Some of them basically have their own houses & cars. It’s crazy! Thank you for flaunting how much you have when everybody else in the world is suffering. Great idea for a reality show MTV, great idea.
Another show that is pretty darn ignorant when it was on the air was flavor of love. I was embarrassed to be black for the whole time that VH1 aired that show. That is not how most people are. Flavor Flav is out of his mind & a media whore (I absolutely love Perez Hilton, that’s where I got the word from). I think the only reality TV couple that has actually worked out is Trista & Ryan from the first season of the bachelor. I think now they’re married with kids, which is cute & lucky for them. But 98% of reality TV show couples do not work out. How could they? I don’t think you can fall in love in the course of a few weeks, especially when it is watched by millions of peoples. Also, people aren’t going to be there true selves when the cameras are rolling. They’re going to show out for the cameras because often times they want work on TV after the show is over. They don’t really care about the other person involved. People also let the competition get to them. They transform into the person that the other person wants to be just to win. I feel that a lot of these people aren’t genuine. They just get so caught up in the competition & backstabbing the other contestants, that they lose track of themselves in the process. But the part that I would have the biggest problem with is the fact that so many other people would want & be with the same person that I like. Out in the real world we call that cheating. I just wouldn’t be comfortable watching the guy I was with kiss 19 other girls. It’s also pretty gross, especially with the swine going around. I’m frowning up just thinking about it. I would also feel pretty disrespected. But in the world of reality television, there is not much respect.
A reality show that I really LOVE & that I think has a good impact on America in particular is biggest loser. That show is just so inspirational. At 8 pm on Tuesday nights that is the only thing that I am doing. Since obesity is such a big issue in America these days, the biggest loser is so relevant. It inspires people to make a positive change in their lives. And not just by taking the easy way out & getting plastic surgery. This show encourages people to do it the healthier & nastier way – good old fashioned diet & exercise. This is what America needs. Some overweight people are more concerned with the cosmetic aspect of their obesity, not the health aspect. Carrying around so much extra weight is not meant for your body. I was watching this show on TLC about Manuel, he used to be the heaviest man in the world (and he might still be, I don’t remember). But he was over 1,000 pounds. A man who weighs 1,000 pounds! That’s crazy! That is ten times more than I weigh. TEN TIMES. That is just crazy. He couldn’t get out of bed or bathe himself. He was a grown man in his 30s who couldn’t get out of bed & who depended on his mother to bathe him & do basically everything for him. Anyways, he tried all these different remedies to try & fix his weight issue but none of them had long term effects. That’s why I like the biggest loser. It encourages techniques that will last a lifetime. You can never go wrong with diet & exercise. If I had to pick one reality show to go on, it would definitely be the biggest loser. It kind of makes me want to get fat, just to lose the weight on that show



That sexy man in the pic is flavor flav - the guy that lots of women want on his relaity show...gross!

Election

Today is Election Day! Today is Election Day!! Today is Election Day!!! And I got the chance to vote in my first election! I’m really excited because this is the first election that I’ve been old enough to vote in. It would’ve been really cool to vote in the presidential election in November so I could’ve voted for Obama. But luckily, my vote wouldn’t have mattered too much because he won by a landslide. But in this election, I feel that my vote is more important. Even though the republican candidate is up by double digits, I still want to get my vote out there for the democrat. Maybe the polls are wrong & he can pull out a win. I really feel that he is just the better person for the state of VA. McDonnell honestly just seems like a complete slime ball to me. He has passed, tried to pass, or said things that are completely ridiculous. For one, he said that working women were detrimental to the home. So basically he wants women to stay at home where they can be barefoot & pregnant. That is just completely ridiculous to me. Women can work just as well as men. Another thing that bothers me about him is that he wanted to define marriage as between a man & a woman. He wanted to change the VA constitution so that it would be defined like that. That is just taking it a step too far. Something about him just bothers me & it’s unsettling that this person could be running the state that I live in for the next 4 years. I would hope that I could trust the person running the state but with McDonnell, I definitely cannot! He represents the old Virginia, not the progressive Virginia that I would hope we would be moving closer to. And after the November election, I was convinced that Virginia was finally moving forward. But a McDonnell victory tonight shows that Virginia is not ready for change (a cliché I know, but it’s the only way I could think to phrase it). I’m looking at the political map of Virginia on CNN & it looks similar to the way the map looked in November. The bigger cities & metropolitan areas such as Northern Virginia, Richmond, & Hampton Roads are predicted to go towards deeds. While the more rural areas, Southern & Western Virginia, are expected to go towards McDonnell.
Why is it that cities always seem to be more liberal while rural areas seem to be more conservative? My guess is that cities are filled with more diverse groups of people who come from all over the country & the world. Sometimes at Virginia Tech, I feel like one of the few democrats within like a 20 mile radius. And it may be because Virginia Tech is in a more rural part of the state. But that doesn’t make sense because people come from all over the state, country, & world just to come to school here. Which is why it’s so surprising that people here are so conservative. I thought that because there are so many different types of people here that there would be varying political views, but that is not true at all. Virginia Tech is not very racially diverse but it is socio-economically (not really sure that’s a word but I’ll roll with it) diverse. People at VT come from all different economic backgrounds. So it just doesn’t make sense that VT is so conservative. Especially since people our age (college students) are supposed to be pretty liberal. If any of you 4 guys are republicans, I would love for you to explain your position on issues. Because frankly, I don’t understand it in the least (kind of like biology). I think it is an incredibly selfish position that republicans have on most of their issues. Side note: I’d like to apologize if this blog is a little boring because of all the political stuff. So I’ll blog about something else now because it’s starting to bore me.
So for the next 300 words I’ll talk about my exciting weekend. Well, by anybody else’s standards, it wouldn’t have been a lot of fun. It didn’t involve alcohol or a slutty costume. I went home & simply hung out with my friends until 5 am every morning. We played games like Apples to Apples & Monopoly. And I discovered that I am probably the worst monopoly player on the planet. Literally every time I rolled the dice, my partner & I had to pay the other team money. My partner got really frustrated but it was all in good fun. But it made me miss home a lot more then I have this whole semester. I wish I could be home again before thanksgiving but luckily that holiday is only a few weeks away. I’m really looking to forward to spending a whole week with the people that I spent this last weekend with. It showed me that I can definitely go out & have fun dressed in jeans & a t shirt & not be drunk. And that I can just chill out with cool people & do fun things for a weekend. It was so relaxing! I got a good night’s sleep in my own bed. There weren’t loud people until all hours of the night & it was just great. I wish I lived close enough to go home every weekend. But I don’t. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the college atmosphere & lifestyle. The way people choose to live their lives is their business but I’m just not the big partying type so going to a more relaxed atmosphere was really nice for me. Hopefully my apartment next year (with Melissa ) will be a place for me to relax here in Blacksburg. Since Pritchard, is most definitely NOT that place. Hopefully I can squeeze one more trip home in before Thanksgiving.
P.S.-that is a picture of my friend & I campaigning for Deeds (unfortunately he did not win & I would like to express my displeasure. BOOOOOOO. That definitely ruined my night.)

First Dates

Lol. Ok. So, I couldn’t think of anything to blog about so I looked for some conversation starters that people use on dates. So yes, this is going to be like an awkward 1st date. Hope you enjoy! By the way, I don’t understand why people use talking points in real life. Conversation should be natural, I feel like these kind of make it more awkward. And these come from all different website such as askmen.com, Facebook, & Yahoo answers. I just picked some of the ones that were pretty simple.
The first question is: “Ask your date what they did that day & if it was a good day.” Yes, I had a wonderful day. My dad, brother, & grandma drove 5 hours from Hampton just to be here for family day. I enjoyed spending time with them since I haven’t seen them in awhile. Them coming to campus means a few more dollars in my bank account, new clothes, & more food in my food container. But I really did enjoy seeing them. It’s hard to be trapped away from your family & the only way to get home is a $110 ticket. So it was exciting to see the people that I grew up with for 18 years again. I wish my mom could’ve made the trip but she does not like to spend time with my dad so they can’t be together (actually I wouldn’t say that on a first date because that’s a little too much information, but I need the words).
The next question is: “Ask your date what the last movie they saw was.” The last movie I saw was fame. It was okay, nothing special. I may be the wrong person to ask because in general, I hate musicals. Nobody bursts into random song in the real world. It would be pretty amazing if they did though. The only musical I liked was hairspray. The songs were so darn catch and the story line was really appealing. It was something to which I could relate. It wasn’t just some bubbly musical, it was life! I’m really excited to see paranormal activity though. I’ll be going home next weekend & seeing the movie with one of my close guy friends. He claims that he is not going to get scared so we’ve made a little bet. If he gets scared, he has to buy me a cheeseburger. He has yet to decide what he would want if he wins. But I don’t think it really matters; I’ve heard that this movie is super scary. Like, people come out of the movie theater shaking & they can’t look at the screen. Apparently the last 30 minutes are really bad. (This is also something that I wouldn’t talk about on a 1st date. I don’t think the new guy wants to hear about one of my “guy friends.” I wouldn’t want to hear that my date has tons of friends who are girls. Something just doesn’t sit right about it. But maybe that’s just me.)
Next question, “Where has your date traveled & where they like would to go some day.” I have never left the east coast of the United States. I go to Boston & Martha’s Vineyard most every summer; my family has a house there & are originally from Beantown. But more exciting is where I would like to go. I would love to go to the Mediterranean. The pictures online look so pretty. Specifically, I would like to go to Greece. The water looks so blue. Not this murky blue that even the cleanest spots on the Atlantic look. I would love to spend one summer in Greece, just relaxing on the beach. I also love the history of the area. Learning about ancient Greek & Rome was always my favorite part of world history class.
“Ask your date about music.” My favorite song right now is sweet dreams by beyonce. I mean it is stuck in my head constantly. I randomly start singing it & the people on my hall are really starting to get tired of me blasting it all the time. Oh well, I love it!
But enough of this awkwardness. I would never actually ask any of these questions on a 1st date. They’re pretty awkward & weird. And if somebody asked me these questions, there may be a chance that there is not a 2nd date. I mean really, what if somebody asked you these questions on a date? It should be natural; nobody should try & force the conversation. If a conversation is forced, you are not really getting to know the person; you’re getting to know the website that they got their talking points from. I’ve never gone on a really bad date so I don’t really have a funny story to insert here. But I can tell you some things that I would hate to happen. It would drive me crazy if the guy was a sloppy eater or not a gentleman. It annoys me to no end when guys do not hold doors or when they see me carrying something heavy & don’t at least offer to help me. That reminds me, the other day I sneezed & my roommate didn’t even say bless you! It’s just 2 words that are common courtesy to say. I just don’t know where some people’s manners have gone. I don’t know if their parents never taught them or if they just don’t deem it necessary but I find it kind of rude. Just say bless you, it’s the right thing to do. I wish everybody on the planet had more manners. I bet it'd be a much better place. This is what I love about Christmastime; everybody is so nice & friendly. But for some reason, this type of spirit seems to wane down gradually during the year. And I just wish it wasn’t. I wish people acted like it was Christmas every day. Hopefully this will happen :)

P.S.-Thats a pic of my family! I <3 them!

Childhood Dreams

So I’m going to talk about balloon boy like everybody else in the world. It’s kind of cool to think about. Not really anymore because we all know it’s a hoax & now his parents are going to jail. But if you just look at the idea, I think it’s pretty darn cool. The movie up just came out (which I wish I could’ve seen) and it kind of ads to this storyline. That also makes me wonder if that’s where his dad got the idea from. But anyways, it’s kind of like a childhood fantasy, to just float away in a balloon. I think it was a few years ago that a man actually did float away in his lawn chair. He was middle aged & just decided one day that he wanted to float away. I think everybody feels like that sometimes. You’re having problems with school or the significant other or your friends and you just sometimes want to float away. And it would be amazing to be up there amongst the clouds, your mind just completely free from worries. It seems like you could just lay back, relax, & stare at the clouds. But now I’m thinking about the practical side. You are however many feet up in the air & if a bird comes along & pops all of your balloons, you’re a goner. So it’s pretty dangerous. I am too scared to get on a roller coaster so I know I could never actually do this. If there were some safer way to, I guess I would. But I guess the safer way is called an airplane. And people still die if that crashes. Maybe people just aren’t destined to be up in the air. If we were I think we would have wings. That kind of shows that people are always trying to do things that maybe they just weren’t meant to do. For example, tear down the rainforest. How selfish of a human being do you have to be to tear down what little of the rain forests that we have left? I mean seriously, is your money worth killing hundreds of animals & trees? I think not. Nothing that you are going to do with that land is that important, especially if you’re going to build some polluting the factory that’s just going to kill the environment even more. Some people fail to understand that they are harming the world around them, that they have to live in. Some people say it doesn’t affect them personally but yeah, it does. But nobody realizes it until they get some lung disease or some other bad disease from all the toxins that they breathe in. Nobody ever cares until it’s too late, which is so sad. Can you imagine getting all the way up to the sky in your ballooncopter & then not being able to see anything because of all the air pollution? Or coming back down to earth & not having fresh drinking water because it’s filled with toxins? These are the realities that we face now because a select group of people do not care about their impact on the world. They think that the only way that they can have an impact is if they build thousands of factories or have lots of buildings with their names on it. But that’s not the type of impact that I would want to have on the world. I would not want to be responsible for ruining the world. Oh no, I don’t want that on my shoulders. I am comfortable just knowing that I’m making an impact by making simple changes in my life. I always recycle, try to take shorter showers, & turn the water off when brushing my teeth. These things are so small but just imagine if everybody did them? The world would be such a different place. Heck, I’m paying thousands of dollars to go to school just so I’ll learn how to make an impact on the environment. I’m paying all this money just to work for the EPA or some other government agency. Sorry, I really didn’t mean to go off on some environmental tangent!
Anyways, what the up story reminded me of was what my childhood dreams were. At first I wanted to be an orthodontist. This is very weird, I know. But I got braces when I was like 7 so that’s practically the only job I knew. That lasted for a little while but the real thing that I spent most of my childhood wanting to do is to be a storm chaser! I have always wanted to chase tornados! It just seems like so much fun to me! The thrill of trying to find the storm & then watching it develop sound absolutely amazing to me. And I was so serious about this up until second semester of my senior year in high school. I applied to the University of Oklahoma, the best meteorological school in the country. I was even accepted into their meteorological school. My mom paid for us to go & visit the campus since I was seriously considering going out there. The only reason I am at Virginia Tech is because Oklahoma was too far away & out of state tuition is way too much! I am currently researching summer internships where I could get some exposure to storms! And I didn’t want to be one of those fake weather people like on television. No, I wanted to be one of the real ones out in the field. But this was a blessing in disguise, because while at Virginia Tech, I have discovered that I absolutely hate science. I hate science so much that I am switching out of a science major for something I enjoy more, the policy & politics side of saving the environment. This just goes to show you that what you want when you’re little is not necessarily what you want now. And what you want now is probably not what you’re going to want when you’re 45. That’s all folks!