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
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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.)