It's Almost Break!

Since I have trouble finding things to write about, I decided to do the optional assignment. Here goes!


1.  Did you enjoy the experience?  Why or why not?  If there were parts you enjoyed, what were they?
I would have to say I actually did enjoy the experience of taking this class. This is because it made me a more confident writer since I usually feel like the papers I write are not that good. In this class I feel like I did a good job since I finished with an A. That is definitely the part I enjoyed was seeing my grades and being proud of the grades that I received.

2. What do you wish you'd done differently?  What do you wish I'd done differently with the assignment (besides not assigning it, or assigning shorter posts)?   
Something I wish I would have done differently is spend more time each paper. I feel like I rushed through them in order to get them done. I still feel like I did a good job, but overall I could have done better. There is not really anything I wish you would have done differently. This class was set up well, and the assignments were assigned and had due dates at reasonable times. I really enjoyed this class. It was somewhat fun since we had a lot of leeway on what to write about. It tends to make it more difficult and not as fun if topics are handed to us to do.

3.  Did the blog make a difference that you saw in your writing skills?  in the way you looked at the world?
I feel like it did. It helped me see that writing is not rocket science, and that it just takes time. I'm not sure it made me see the world any differently.

4.  Do you think you'll keep blogging (or would you keep blogging if you had the time)?
I would say that I would probably keep blogging if I had the time. I'm not sure I will though between all my other homework I am bound to have, going to class, and possibly having two jobs. I will definitely be busy, so doing blogs may be something that will have to be cut out of my schedule. But who knows.

Serial Killers

People may find this blog post weird, and if you do then I guess I'm sorry. My major is criminal justice so this kind of stuff actually interests me, and I recently saw a television program that made me want to look into this. This blog is about two famous, well infamous, serial killers that have existed in the United States. The first one is one many people have heard about, and this person is Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer is known for killing seventeen boys and men between the years of 1978 and 1991. One thing that most likely triggered Dahmner's actions of murdering these people was the fact that he was molested by a neighbor as a young child, and to make his young life worse his parents got a divorce. After this happened his mother took Jeffery's brother and left him to live alone with his dad. This was bad because he had no way to contact his mom, and it left him to feel abandoned. As a child he also liked to kill animals, and had desires to commit necrophilia, which is having sexual acts with something that is dead. Killling animals is one of the three signs of a serial killer according to the  Macdonald Triad. This triad stated that if three characteristics were seen together, were associated with violant behaviors later on in life. The other two included bed wetting and fire setting. By the time Dahmer was a teenager he had urges to kill and mutilate men. Even though he was in and out of jail a couple times for various things such sexual offenses, nobody ever thought his acts were as extreme as they were. There are details about how he would treat his victims, but I will not go into that since it is not pretty to discuss.


The next serial killer that is moderately infamous is John Wayne Gacy. He was known for killing up to 33 men and boys. As a child, Gacy never had a very strong relationship with his father who was an alcoholic, but he always seemed to get along with his mother and two sisters. Growing up he moved around a lot until he got married. Then they had a child, and he became a pretty successful man. Everyone thought that he had the perfect life, but that was far from true. Rumors finally began to spread about Gacy's sexual preference, since it seemed like young men and boys always happened to be around him, and that he would hit on some of them. In 1968 he was convicted of raping a young man, but that was only the beginning. After this he was charged with various other sexual acts as well. In the end they found out that Gacy had murdered up to 33 men and that he kept their bodies hidden in the crawl space of his home. It turned out he was secretly gay, and was frustrated he had to hid this. This video shows a little bit of a biography of Gacy's story. These stories are crazy, and there are so many out there. I can not imagine how someone could do this stuff to other people 

My Weekend

Well this past weekend was a pretty good one. It started off with me getting off of work at 4, and going to eat with my brother and his wife at the mall. It was fun. They had their little baby Hunter with them. I got to hold him.  Even though he slept the whole time there he is so cute. After that Stephanie and I went back to my house to wait for Steven to get off work. I played with Hunter and talked to Stephanie and Steven. After awhile we went back to the mall for pretzel day. While we were there Stephanie decided to have Hunter's pictures done. They came out really good. After that Steven and I just went back home to relax the rest of the night.
The next day my parents came down to Joplin to watch Hunter so Stephanie and Daniel could go to a marriage seminar at their church. They came over and we went to lunch. My mom was getting mad because every time she changed Hunter's diaper he would make another mess in it. I thought it was pretty funny. We went and ate at Wendy's, and then went to Academy so my dad and Steven could hunt. After that I had to go to work until eight. After work Steven and I went to Sonic and hung out.
The next day Steven and I went to a cookout with Daniel and Stephanie at her grandparent's house. That was really fun. We went skeet shooting and had hamburgers. Then it started to rain so we all went home. After that I went home and finished up my paper for this class. Then we went to the drive-in movie in Carthage. That was pretty awesome! I had never been to a drive-in before. We saw "The Hunger Games" again, but it was okay since it was the first time I had ever been to one. That was pretty much my whole weekend. 

Bravery in People

I'm not sure why, but this past week had me thinking about the brave and courageous things some people do in their lives beyond extraordinary circumstances. That is why I am doing this blog over a couple stories of people who have these stories.
The first is about a French man named Phillipe Croizon. Phillipe has a plan to swim around the world through small channels that connect five of the continents. To me that is brave right there, but to make the story even more brave is the fact that Croizon has no arms or legs. He lost his limbs in a powerful electrical accident that occurred when he was changing a television antenna. He believes that by swimming around the world through these channels it will bring the five continents, and their people, together. That is so amazing to me to have that kind of determination against all odds!
The next story of amazing survival is one that many of you may have already heard of. It was made into a movie about a year or so ago with the movie's title being "127 Hours." For those who do not know what story I am talking about, it is the story of Aron Ralston who found himself stuck between a rock wall and rock for days on end, and survived due to his immense amount of bravery. This incident happened back in 2003 when Ralston went on one of his normal nature day where he would ride his bike, walk the mountains, and climb them as well  in the mountains of Colorado.  As he was climbing out of a canyon an 800 pound rock slipped and fell trapping his arm between the rock and the wall of the canyon. Even though he tried everything, the rock that had trapped him would not move. After being stuck like that for about five days, Ralston knew he had no choice but to amputate his own arm if he planned on surviving. By this time he was all out of food and water considering he had only planned on being gone for a weekend. After Ralston got himself out he stumbled onto a family who helped him to be rescued. This video shows the trailer of the film that was based off of Ralston's story, while this video shows live footage Ralston filmed while he was trapped. I'm not sure how or why, but I actually remember when this story was all over the news. It immediately made me want to see the movie since it was something I had heard about in real life. I honestly do not know if I could have gone through the pain and agony of cutting my own off in order to survive. That is truly amazing and so brave to me.  
In my opinion, these two people are just a couple of the many who have to go through life at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to the rest of us. The crazy thing about that though is that they go out and do these amazing things that none of us would even consider doing. I know it has never crossed my mind to go out and swim around the world. I can barely swim a lap in a swimming pool I can't imagine going around the whole world. And Aron Ralston still enjoys being outdoors and doing these nature hikes. I know if I got my arm stuck for five days and had to cut it off I would be scared to death to go near another canyon. I just wanted to commend these two men for being so brave. Props to them for doing what they do.

Burnt Out!

I don't know about everyone else, but I am so, so glad summer break is almost here. It makes me feel somewhat lazy, but I am so burnt out on school! This usually tends to happen pretty much every semester. At least we only have about three weeks left, and then it will be time to sit back and relax for a couple months! I guess it won't necessarily be complete relaxation since I still have to work, but it will be much easier just balancing work and life as compared to work, life, and school. It never fails that by the time summer is over, I am pretty ready to get back to school. It is so crazy I will only have a year left. I am ready, but then again I am nervous about having to find a job in my profession which will be criminal justice administration. Who knows if I will even be good at at. I guess that is something I will worry about when it gets here. 
I think that the weather summer brings makes the burnt out feeling even stronger. I love warm weather. It is so awesome to be outside all the time. There is so much to do outside especially when its nice out. There are things to do such as riding a bike, playing catch, tennis, and even swimming! I don't really like to do those things too much when it is cold out since I am naturally cold anyway. If it's not about 80 degrees out then I am cold. It kind of sucks, especially since Steven is warm all the time and he always asks me how in the world I am cold. I will also be in Brazil this summer, and I am so excited about that! I don't know very  much Portuguese, but I'm sure I will learn very quickly. I will pretty much have to in order to communicate with anyone at all. In all, I am very excited for summer and a break from school!

Loving Qualities

In this world there are two sexes, men and women. It is typical that these two sexes hardly ever understand the other, so it was surprising to me to when I stumbled upon this article about five things guys like in a girl. The first thing was glasses, second freckles, third an independent streak, fourth plain janes, and fifth assorted quirks.  The first one somewhat surprised me since I feel nerdy when I wear my glasses, and some girls are the same way. Usually I don't here many guys saying they want someone who looks like a nerd, but then again guys do like girls who are intelligent and smart. The third one really did not surprise me much. I know that I would not want someone who is completely dependent on someone, so I don't know why anyone else would, but that is just my opinion on the subject. The plain jane one also surprised me since I don't know really. The assorted quirks one did surprise me since the ones they described are somewhat annoying sometimes. I found this video interesting with all the different opinions in it (I apologize for the language). 


There is also an article about what girls like in a guy. It lists body odor, scars and blemishes, stereotypically "female" traits, vulnerability, and awkwardness. The first one definitely surprised me. I have never found body odor to be attractive. That is kind of gross, but maybe I'm just shallow. The second one I guess I understand. I have heard a lot of girls say they like scars. The feminine trait one somewhat surprised me, but then again it didn't. It is annoying to have a guy who thinks they  have to be tough all the time. Showing true emotions is really not a bad thing. These two articles helped to show as a whole what men and women both like in each other. Even though I found some of them odd, some people might follow right along with these lists. 

My Weekend

Well this past weekend was a pretty good one because I got to go home! I don't mean just my house here in Joplin, but my home home where I grew up. Saturday after work I headed out to go see my parents. My brother, his wife, and my new nephew went home also. They did not get there until later though. The two hour drive never seems as long on the way there as it does on the way back even though I have to drive almost every time since Steven likes to sleep on car rides. I really miss home a lot. It really sucks I don't get to go back more often with work and school all the time, but I guess it makes it more worth it when I actually can. When we first got there we just talked to my parents for awhile. When my brother got there him, my dad, and Steven all went outside to shoot guns. I usually join but since it was cold and nasty out I decided to stay inside. Plus I wanted to get to hold my nephew Hunter. He is so cute. He will be a month old tomorrow! After awhile dinner was finally ready, Steven left to go see his dad, and the rest of us sat down and ate. After we all ate we decided to watch the new Adam Sandler movie, "Jack and Jill". It was actually really funny. I originally thought that I would not like it since it is kind of corny to have one person playing two roles in my opinion, but that is just me. About halfway through the movie Steven finally made it back. Him and his family had a fun time cooking out. I usually go with him, but since we were going to see them all Sunday I decided to stay and spend time with my family.


Sunday we got up and all got ready for church. I figured Steven and I would go ahead and go to Bartlesville to see his mom, but we ended up going to church at Tyro with my family. After that we finally headed to see his family. We all ate at Golden Corral. It was really good since I had not eaten there in a long time. His little niece kept escaping and going to see the other kids in the restaurant. It was pretty funny even though I think her parents got a little embarrassed. After we ate there we went and hung out at his sisters' house for awhile with everyone. Steven and her husband played a video game. I tried to play but I had no idea what to do. When we left there we went to Quiktrip to get our slushies! We do that every time we go there since they are so good, and there is not a QT close to Joplin at all. After that we went back to my parent's house so Steven and my brother could shoot skeet. They really enjoy doing that. My brother is really good at it. I just held Hunter until my mom got home, then she took him from me. We all decided it was probably time to get home about 9 that night, which didn't put me in bed until midnight. It made today feel like a really long day since I usually go to bed by ten or so! In all I really enjoyed my weekend getting to see my family. I really miss them a lot!

Frustrated

Today seemed to be the day for every rude person in the area to come into Lowe's. I got cussed out by an older couple because they had to return a water filter again. Seriously, if you're gonna get that mad about returning a water filter, grow up. I get that it is frustrating to get things that don't work, but there is no need to throw a big fit about it and cuss at everyone who is trying to help you. If you don't feel like you're going to be able to have a civil conversation with someone without pitching a fit, then don't leave you're house. It does nobody good, and it makes everyone who comes in contact with you have a worse attitude than they did already, or it could even ruin their day. That is just flat out rude if you ask me. Than this smart ellec of a man comes through my line having an attitude about everything he says. When I tried to help him cut some plastic with my box knife I state that the blade was dull, and he came back with another smart ellec that we sold them in the store, you know. No way. I had no idea we sold box knife blades in a hardware store. That totally never occurred to me (notice that this is sarcasm on my part). I mean really, who doesn't know that Lowe's has those. As you can see, I did not have the best day. It is okay though now that it is over and I can relax the rest of the night. I just hope tomorrow is a better day!

The Hunger Games Craze

I'm sure many of you have heard of the movie that recently came out called "The Hunger Games". The movie is based of the book with the same title by Suzanne Collins. I have heard talk about it all over the radio, magazines, as well as Facebook. For those of you who don't know, here is a link of the trailer for the movie .At first I honestly wanted nothing to do with the movie or the books since the hype of it is so big. I don't know, for some reason I don't like when that happens. I also could not see how the story of kids going into an arena to kill each other could be good at all. That sounds so depressing. It was not until a few days after I saw the movie against my will, that I decided I actually like the story, and now I can't get enough of it. In the past two weeks I have managed to read the first two books, and am currently on the 3rd one. The title for each book is "The Hunger Games", "Catching Fire", and "Mockingjay" in that order. You have to understand that this is pretty impressive considering the amount of homework as well as the hours I put in at my job. It really does not leave me much time to read for my own pleasure. A brief summary of the story is that it takes you into the life of Katniss Everdeen in the fictional world of Panem. The world is run by the Capitol, and there are twelve districts under it. Each year the Capitol hosts the annual tradition of the hunger games each capitol has to choose one boy and one girl to send to compete. The one person that wins out of the twenty-four gets blessed with enough food to last them a long while since food is scarce at this time. Katniss ends up going to the games in order to save her sister. That is where it all begins anyway, but it gets so good.
For those who were like me and thought the plot was too depressing, and maybe even somewhat crazy to even come up with, I recently learned that the author of the books got her idea for this story from Greek mythology. The story was that Minos forces the city of Athens to sacrifice seven boys in girls as punishment for past crimes, much like in the book.  I realize wikepedia is not the best site for sources, but I found that to make sense once reading the book and seeing the movie.
Even though the movie and book have a lot of similarities, there is so much in the book that the movie leaves out. This is understandable considering the movie is almost two and a half hours so adding everything else would have made it extensive to watch. Overall the reviews for both the film and the books have been pretty good. This site gives many good reviews of what people have said about the film. I am glad that they left some of the gore that is in the book out of the movie. There is some of it that would not be pleasant to watch. Overall I say that anyone who has any sort of interest in this story should at least try to watch the film or read the book. The story is more than just about kids having to go kill each other for the entertainment of the people in the Capitol, it is also about survival, love, and courage. I hate to admit that I am one of those people who loves this story. If the tickets for the movie theater weren't so expensive I would probably go see the movie a second time.

My Vacation!

This past week, Steven and I went on a cruise with two of our friends. We all left late Friday night and went and stayed the night in Tulsa, OK so we wouldn't have to get up super early in order to get to the air port on time. Then Saturday morning we got up and flew out of Tulsa to Miami. Once we got to Miami we got our rental car, went and checked in at the hotel we stayed in there, and then went sight seeing. We ended up having to walk over two miles in order to get to the beach. There were no parking spots any closer. The walk kind of sucked because Steven and I got blisters on our feet from our flip flops rubbing on our toes. They could have been worse though. After that we all went to eat, got cleaned up, and then went sight seeing some more. It was a fun day, but the fun was just about to begin.


Sunday we got up and got our stuff together to leave the hotel. We then headed to our main destination, the cruise ship! It was a massive ship that occupied over 3,000 passengers. The ship we went out was called the Ruby Princess. Going through security did not take a very long time. That was good since we were all so excited to get onto the boat. Once on the boat Steven and I went to find our room. We found it on the Caribe deck. It was a really nice room. It did kind of throw us off that the beds were across the room from eachother, but we got our cleaning guy to push them together for us. After that we had to go to a safety thing so we new what to do in case some kind of accident were to happen while on the cruise. That was pretty boring. Then it was finally time to sail away! We went and sat on the very front of the ship to watch this. After that we went and settled in our room and got ready for dinner. The dining room was really fancy. We dressed nice, and were seated. Our waiter was a cool guy. His name was Romel from the Philippines. That night we got in the hot tub and watched the movie they played outside. It was "Real Steal". It was a really good movie.


The next day we were supposed to stop at an island, but we ended up not being able to get off of the boat because the water was too rough, and we had to take little boats to the island. That was a pretty big bummer. That whole day we did not do much but hang out on the boat, lay out under the sun, and watch movies in the theater on board. That night they had a magician show. It was really cool! The next couple days after that we got to get off on islands which was a blast! At the first island we all got really burnt, so the next day we took a tour of that island in order to keep from burning even more. While on the boat at night and the other days we had to stay on all day there was plenty to do. A couple nights there were comedians that were hilarious. We also did not go hungry at all since there was always food to eat. They also had amazing smoothies we got a lot. When we got back to Florida we went and watched the movie "The Hunger Games". I didn't want to see it very much, but it turned out to be pretty good despite the depressing story line. On the plane I started reading the book. There were a lot of details that were left out of the movie. That was my vacation! It was a really fun trip. 

Celebrities in the News

I don't know if it is because it is break, or because it has been a long, dreary day, but I could not come up with anything exciting to post about, so I am going with something simple. That is some celebrities that have been in the news lately! The first one that struck me as something interesting is the famous actor who plays the mean dad in the "Meet the Parents" movies, Robert De Niro. The actor cracked a joke towards Michelle Obama about possibly having a white first lady after the November elections. Even though it was taken the wrong way, De Niro stated that he meant no harm to anyone by saying what he said, especially not towards the first lady of the United States. He did formally apologize for what he said after her office stated that it was inexcusable and inappropriate. That is definitely one thing I would not like about being famous. If you say one thing that might offend just one person, it turns into a huge deal and suddenly your considered a racist. 
The next celebrity news I have seen recently is about country stars Lady Antebellum, also known as "Lady A" for short. These singers are going to put on a free concert for a school in Indiana that had recently been hit by a tornado. The cool thing about this story is that a rival school are the ones who got this concert to happen for this poor town that did not get left with very much after the storm passed. Many students stated that this kind gesture meant a lot to them. This concert is going to be put on during Henryville High School's prom. I find it very cool that a band is willing to put on a free concert when so many bands are not willing to do that because they feel they need more money than they already have. 
The last piece of news about a celebrity that caught my eye was that of Gene Simmons from the famous band KISS and Tommy Lee from Motley Crew talking trash on girl singers, Rihanna in particular. They bluntly stated that they are tired of girl singers going up there with all these dancers surrounding them as well as lip syncing a majority of their songs. They believe that no lip syncing should be allowed. They see it as dishonest and call it singing kareokee. To them they are being put out of business due to this, and they do not feel it is right since they believe that they have real talent. Lip syncing is something that I feel should not be allowed as well. If they are good enough to be that famous they should show it instead of faking it. 
Well, there is the news about celebrities I got for this week. I'm sure there are many more stories, some may be more interesting, but it is good to read up on some of it here and there every now and then even though it probably is not the most educational stuff to read.

I'm Officially an Aunt!

I don't know about anybody else, but my Spring Break started out with some awesome news. My brother and his wife had their first baby together on Saturday morning! His name is Hunter. and for being a newborn he is pretty adorable! It sounds rude, but most newborns are kind of weird looking at first. It could just be because he is my nephew, but he is a pretty good looking newborn. My brother and his wife had an extremely long night, and so did my parents. My brother and Stephanie, his wife, decided to go to the hospital at about 10:30 Friday night, and by about 11:00 they called my parents who drove an hour and a half to get to the hospital before little Hunter made his grand appearance. I got a phone call at about 2 in the morning, but did not feel like I needed to rush to the hospital since it is only about five minutes from our house. My parents only did because this is Stephanie's third baby, and I guess they tend to come out faster after one or two. I ended up going to the hospital at about 9 the next morning, and Hunter still hadn't arrived. When I got there my parents and I went and ate breakfast in the hospital cafeteria, then Daniel came and got my mom and me to go back and see Stephanie. While we were back there she was saying she was having pressure and it was time to push, so my mom and I left the room to go wait. At exactly 10 a.m. Hunter arrived to say hello to the world. We all joked with my brother about passing out, but he hung in there and made it through! By about 10:30 we all got to go back and meet little baby Hunter. My mom got to hold him first, and then I did. He did not cry the whole time up until it was time to get a bath. My brother took a video of him crying that is so cute. His little chin quivers every time he screams. 
Whenever they took  him back for a nap my mom, dad, and I decided to go eat lunch with Steven at this time since we could not really see the baby anyway. We went and got some Subway at the mall, then my mom and I shopped around for a little bit. We did not find much, but I did score a new pair of Nikes. They are really sweet shoes! After that we went back to the hospital. When we got back there Stephanie's other two kids were there. They are a bit hyper, but they are fun to be around. I ate snacks with her son and helped him color. Her daughter really wanted to hold Hunter. They let her hold him, but it was kind of scary because she is only five. I hung out at the hospital until about 6 when I decided it was probably time to go home and hang out with Steven. Tonight they are supposed to bring Hunter over so we can see him without six other people being around constantly. I am pretty excited to see my new nephew! I consider Stephanie's other kids my niece and nephew even though they aren't my brother's as well as Steven's nieces and nephews, but Hunter is the first real official one by blood. It is pretty exciting! I hope he likes me when he gets bigger!

Makeup

The other day I was driving to work when the people on the radio were discussing how much it costs certain celebrities to look good each month. The one person I heard discussed was Jennifer Aniston, most known for her role on the television show Friends as well as many, many other movies. They stated that it costs her $8000 a month to basically look good. What they meant by this is how much it costs her to buy things such as make-up. This number is ridiculous. It got me wondering why it costs them so much when it costs me so much less than that. It is just crazy to me. It also got me wondering how much the average woman spends on makeup as well. On this site I found it states that the average woman will spend up to $15000 on makeup in her lifetime between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five. It also broke it down by saying that each woman spends about $43 each time shes goes out and gets makeup, and that this happens about five times a year. Honestly, that seems high to me. That could just be because I do not wear all that much makeup. I wear mascara, foundation, and that powder that goes all over your face (I honestly don't know what to call it) on a regular basis. Occasionally I will wear eyeliner and eye shadow, but that is only occasionally. Each of these is approximately $5 each, so I assume I probably spend about $15 or maybe $20 every three months or so on makeup. The math of that is only about $80 or so a year, not $216, but that is just me. This video talks about how much it costs to buy all the makeup for someone's face. For those out there who feel you spend too much on makeup, this site compares the prices of makeup to help find the cheaper kind and where to buy it. I find it crazy that people will spend gobs of money on makeup, but that is probably just me being cheap. It also the fact that some people have the money to do that, and some don't. For those that do, spend freely! I hope some found this to be a bit interesting. 

Spring Break Has Begun!

So as many of you know, Spring Break has officially begun for most! The wonderful break began for me Wednesday night after my night class since I only have class two days a week. It is pretty nice! Some think that only having class two days a week makes break not as worth it, but that is totally wrong. Even though I only have class two days a week, I am also in online classes which puts my homework amount very high for each week. At least during Spring Break I will only have to worry about work, and not work and homework. This is somewhat true, but then again this year it's not, because I will be gone on a cruise the week after Spring Break which leaves me responsible with doing that weeks' homework over break. That week I will be free from homework as well as work! I can not wait! It is going to be such a relief. I imagine it will also be a blast. I have never been on a cruise before, but I have high expectations for it. From what I hear they are a really good time. I hope everyone else is excited as I am about break! We are having the perfect weather for it too. I say that now, but watch it rain all week of break so nobody can truly enjoy it as much as if the weather was lovely out like it has been the past few days. This weather makes me glad to be put out in lawn and garden during my time spent at my job. This blog is somewhat short, but all I have left to say is enjoy your break everybody!

National Defense Authorization Act

Many of us realize that the threat of terrorism is an issue facing the United States, but is it as big of a deal as the government likes to put on? Recently President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act which basically gives the United States military authorization to arrest and detain anybody suspected of terrorism in the United States. It expands the power of the federal government to fight this War on Terror we have been fighting for far too long. This includes the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists without any type of trial. I find the signing of this bill to be somewhat ignorant on behalf of President Obama. He clearly stated in the article above that he has serious "reservations" about the bill, yet he signed it anyway. I'm sorry but if I have doubts about doing something, especially something that is a big deal, I am not going to do it. For example, if I'm considering buy a new car, but something seems fishy about it, I am not going to go buy it anyway until whatever is wrong with it is fixed.
According to this article the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, has three main functions. The first is to authorize the government to indefinitely imprison someone without any type of charge or trial. The second thing this law would do is to mandate the military detention of certain citizens of the United States who would be outside of military control if not for this law including those civilians detained in the United States. The last function of the NDAA is to transfer to the Department of Defense authorities and responsibilities that are now held by the Department of Justice. I do disagree with this bill, but there are some that are all for it such as Senator Lindsey Graham who feels the law just says for the first time that our homeland is part of the battlefield of this War on Terror, and that people will be arrested and detained without a charge or trial. This news clip somewhat helps explain more what the NDAA is and what is does. I'm sure there are some people out there who completely agree with the NDAA, and that is okay, but to me this is a very wrong thing. It is not right to detain anyone without any kind of charge for doing so. I have also always been raised to believe that everyone has the right to a fair and speedy trial or however that saying goes, so denying someone the right to a trial seems unamerican to me.

Bogged Down

My goodness these past few weeks have been heavy. Going from school to work to a home that needs cleaned constantly to homework to having a life is tough. It is also something that has wearing me out so much lately. I am currently enrolled in seventeen hours here at Missouri Southern. I have never had a problem carrying this load before since I have always worked and attended school, but this semester has definitely been a challenge. It seems I have had more homework than ever, which is basically all the time. Every single class I am in aside from this one consists of reading an entire chapter out of the text book for the class, taking a quiz over it, and answering discussion questions about that particular chapter. That does not seem like a big deal, but when you have four different chapters to read that are each at least twenty pages long, not to mention boring considering they are text book chapters, tends to add up to a decent amount of time. I am also working at least thirty hours a week at my job. This is an area that could possibly be cut down a bit to make extended room for homework, but then again there are bills to pay and food to be bought. I am thankful that I like my job a majority of the time. The people I work with are fun to be around which is nice. I can see how working with people that are not nice or easy to get along with would make working at that place a not so fun experience. It also stays pretty busy at work, Lowe's, considering the damage that still needs fixed on buildings and homes here in Joplin. 
Being in my own house is also something new and a change for me. I have always lived with my parents or in the dorms at school up until this semester. I got married in January to Steven, and we rent a cute little one bedroom house. Somehow this little house is always a mess that needs picked up all the time. I guess I can't complain too much since it is small, I am just not used to having be the one picking up all the time. I now understand why my mom freaks out and feels the need to clean my parents house from top to bottom whenever they are expecting company! The dorms were also not a big deal when it came to cleaning since there was two of us responsible for a little bitty room. Making room for friends and family is the biggest struggle in front of me right now. I am definitely not used to all my friends and family being at least thirty minutes away except for my brother who lives here as well. I hate that I do not have time to spend with my friends and family since I either work or go to school everyday. I hardly have time to even see my brother when we live in the same town because he has to work at least sixty hours a week as well to support him and his wife. They are expecting a baby any day now so that is exciting! I really miss my friends and parents, but that is probably something I will get used to in time. I do not mean to complain since that is basically all this blog is about, but I need a break so bad! Thank goodness Spring Break is a short couple weeks away! I don't know about anybody else, but I am definitely excited for that.

Storms in the Midwest

Many of us were around for the storms that tore through the states of Kansas and  Missouri yesterday evening. Honestly, I was asleep for all of it, so I did not realize how intense the storm really was. Last semester I attended Pittsburg State University, and I was on their texting list in case in emergencies or school closings needed to be announced. I do not still attend that college seeing as I am enrolled in classes here at MSSU, but I do still get the texting alerts that Pitt State sends out. This morning at around 5:30 a.m. I received one of those messages confirming that the university was going to be closed today due to storm damages. This message made me fear that a tornado reached the town of Pittsburg since I have many friends that still attend the college there. Even though there was not a tornado to my knowledge, this video on the webpage link shows the damages that the town did have. Here is a photograph of the motel when first driving into Pittsburg.
Not only did the Pittsburg, KS area get hit pretty hard in the storms last night, but so did many other towns including everyone's favorite tourist town, Branson, MO. In Branson many homes have been completely destroyed as well as many injuries. According to this article, there were 14 tornado reports across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Illinois all in one night. Even though these storms were relatively small compared to the tornado that tore Joplin apart last May, they are not something to be ignored. There were many, many families effected by the harsh weather last night with many that lost their homes. Harveyville, a town in Kansas, has approximately 40% of the town suffering from some sort of damage. 
These storms already occurring make me wonder if our mild winter is something we are going to have to pay for in the Spring months. I certainly hope not since these kinds of storms are dangerous and sometimes deadly. I just pray that whatever damages happen everyone can stay safe through whatever happens. I also hope that the towns that were effected last night will pull together and get everything fixed up like Joplin has. It is awesome to see how everyone has pulled together here and gotten buildings and homes back up so quickly. I realize there is still a lot of damage done to this town, but over time it will all look good as new.

My Weekend

This past weekend I got the joy of going home all weekend. Home is not here in Joplin, MO. Home is back in the tiny town of Havana, KS. Going home was really exciting since I had not been home in almost two months, and I was missing my parents. At 5:00 I got off work, got packed up, and headed out for the hour and a half drive with Steven. It was a fun drive. Steven did not fall asleep for once! On the way we stopped in Coffeyville to get ice cream with two of my best friends, Lindsey and Ashlyn. We met them at Braum's and reminisced on the good ole days of us as kids. I have been friends with them for a long time. Ashlyn and I have been friends since we were six, and Lindsey and I have been friends since we were nine. After we ate with them we headed on home to my parents' house. It was really fun there. We just sat around and talked all night. The next day Steven and I walked around our field with my mom, then we went out and shot guns at pop cans.
After that we headed on out to Steven's parents house in Oklahoma. When we were there we hung out with all of his family. He has a big family compared to me. He has two sisters who have two little kids each. They are definitely loud. It is something I am not used to since nobody in my family has kids, but they are fun. We stayed up far too late that night. The next day we got up and went to church. After church we hung out with his family some more. That night his home church threw up a wedding shower. We got a lot of gifts and money. After the wedding shower we headed back to Joplin. It was a tiring weekend, but it was definitely fun. I wish we could go back home more often than once every few months!

Brazil

This coming summer my husband and I will be going to Brazil for two months. Am I excited? Yes. Am I nervous? Not yet, but I know I will be. This will definitely be the longest and furthest I have ever been from home, but it is for a good cause. We are going so Steven can do an internship in the missions field for a church located there in Brazil. Honestly, I have no idea what I am going to be doing the whole time, but he is going to be putting on vacation bible school for the kids, preaching, and putting activities together for the youth to do there. It will be an awesome learning experience as well as a way for us to decide if we would want to do missions long term. The only thing I am not looking forward to on this trip is that when we land in Brazil we will have a fourteen hour layover until our next flight. It will be a long, long, fourteen hours in an airport. 
I will also be turning twenty-one while we are in Brazil! I am not sure how that will go, but I'm sure it will be fun. It is funny I am turning an important age there, because when I turned sixteen I was on a missions trip in Trinidad. It will be different not celebrating my birthday with my family, but I'm sure we will do something for it when Steven and I are back in the states. So far we have been blessed with churches donating money to us to go toward the expenses of this missions trip. My home church, Tyro Christian Church, gave us a good amount of money. This was definitely a blessing that covered the cost of our plane tickets. We have almost all the money raised that we will need to cover our rent and things like that here while we are gone as well as what we will need for there. For those of you who pray, I ask for your prayers and support for us while we are on this trip that we will stay safe, and reach the lives of those we come into contact with. The time we leave will be here in no time!

The Best Show Ever

Whenever you go to turn on the television set, there are many shows to choose from to watch. Some of us like drama, some like comedy, and others enjoy a lovely game show. There is not one certain genre of show I like, but my ultimate favorite television show is by far "The Office." For anyone who has not seen this hilarious show, you need to sit down and watch it. I understand that it is not a show for everyone, but if you enjoy dumb humor, it is definitely for you. My parents hate "The Office" because I watch it over and over on my lazy days. This show was based on the British comedy series with the same name, but I do not enjoy the British version at all. "The Office" stars actor Steve Carell as Michael Scott. He is the regional manager of a paper company called Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Carell also stars in many movies such as "40 Year Old Virgin" and one of his newest ones, "Crazy Stupid Love." In the show, Steve's character is a boss who feels that he is best friends with everyone he works with, and he loves them all. Even though he means well, his personality annoys the rest of the people in the office and anyone he comes in contact with, but that is what makes his character so funny. He also enjoys the "that's what she said" jokes. They are cracked all throughout the episodes.
The television show plays on the television station NBC. NBC has an entire website dedicated to this hilarious show. It began in March of 2005, and is still airing new episodes today. The show is currently on its eighth season. I have watched every episode at least 5 times if not more. That may sound extreme, but it is such a good show! Here is a short clip from one of my favorite episodes. This scene shows two of the people who work in the office the show is about. Jim, who is played by John Krasinski, imitate the other person, Dwight played by Rainn Wilson. One of the main themes of the show is how Jim and Dwight do not get along, so Jim plays a lot of harmless pranks on Dwight. Another one of the main themes of the show is the relationship between Jim and the receptionist Pam. It is obvious from the beginning that the two have feelings for each other. It is interesting to see how that plays out throughout the seasons and episodes. "The Office" is also one way my husband and I met. One day on Facebook I had my status as a quote from the show, and when Steven saw that it gave him an excuse to start up a conversation since our common interest in the show gave him something to talk to me about. I know, romantic story right? For those of you who have not seen "The Office", I recommend watching it. It may be for you, or it may not. Either way is okay. I will continue to watch it as often as possible and enjoy the laughter I experience from it.

How Safe is Organic Food?

Organic food is one of those things I have always heard is extremely good for everyone to eat, not to mention expensive. That is about the extent of my knowledge on the subject though. This is got me wondering, is organic food really that good for you? Upon my thoughts of this I ran across an article that discussed a high amount of arsenic that was found in organic baby foods and cereal bars. Arsenic is a chemical substance that is most commonly linked to cancer, chronic diseases, and developmental effects. These high levels have been found in foods that use the ingredient organic brown rice syrup. This ingredient is usually used as a substitute for  high fructose corn syrup in most organic foods. Out of the 17 baby formulas that were tested by researchers, two of them used organic brown rice syrup as their primary ingredient. The arsenic levels in these two baby formulas was twenty times higher than the amount found in baby formulas without the organic brown rice syrup as a primary ingredient. I am by no means the type of person who freaks out about what people eat, or believe that everyone should eat only the healthiest foods out there, but if I were to have a baby that would definitely concern me about my child's health mainly because a baby is more prone to sickness and having long term effects on them if they are exposed to high levels of something they are not supposed to have compared to adults. 
Another site I found talked about how organic foods also increase the risk of pathogen. This is because the fruits and vegetables that are grown on manure could have unseen pathogens on them that could make whoever is eating them sick. Pathogens are things such as E. coli and Salmonella poisoning. These things grow in the stomachs of animals and then could be transferred to the leafs of fruits and vegetables. This is something that could cause a huge health risk if there is one bad batch of a certain fruit or vegetable that gets many people sick. The fact that food is grown with fertilizer that is manure makes me wash off every fresh fruit or vegetable I eat, but that may not even help. There could also be problems with organic meat people consume since animals are not immune to parasites entering their systems, and could still be in the meat after it is processed. As mentioned earlier, the price of organic food tends to be higher than that of non organic foods. I had always wondered why. This video helped answer that question for me. After the research I found, I have not become persuaded in any way to go out and buy all organic foods. I do not have the money for that, and really they don't seem any healthier than non organic foods, but then again I did no research on the benefits of eating organic foods.

My New Bike

As you can tell from the title of this blog post, I recently got a new bike! It is a pretty sweet bike. Here it is. My new bike is lime green, pink, and sparkly silver. These may sound like colors of a bike for a little girl, because it is a girl's bike. I am not extremely short, but I am a mere 5'3" which made mostly all of the women size bikes I liked too big. Here is a picture of the bike I really, really wanted, but unfortunately it was too big. It is pretty sweet, I know. I'm sure many of you out there are possibly wondering why a twenty-year-old girl in college would want a new bike. The reason I wanted to get a new bike is so Steven and I could have a hobby to do together. It also can help us save on gas when we want to go do something fun together like go get ice cream. We could ride our bikes there instead of driving which saves us on gas, and gives us more time to spend together. Steven already has a nice bike. It was an expensive one he got a long time ago. He used to go riding on trails back behind Ozark Christian College. I am not willing to do this though because the trails back there are rough. He has plenty of stories of him wrecking his bike out there or his friends wrecking their bikes. One time he flew off his bike and hit a tree so hard it broke his helmet. Luckily he was okay from this experience.
 I used to have the same bike for about ten years or so, but then I left it outside all year at college last year and it got all rusted and no good.  It is also a good form of exercise. It is hard for me to get motivated to go work out, but I do not mind riding a bike around. I do admit it is somewhat cold out right now to ride a bike around, but it will be warmer soon! I am also considering riding my bike to work. I drive a Volkswagon Beetle that is diesel, and with the price of diesel at almost $4 a gallon and rising I am going to need to cut back on driving. My work, Lowe's, is only a few short miles from my house, so riding a bike there would not be a huge deal. I am somewhat scared to ride it along the busy streets here in Joplin. I would also have to leave for work a lot earlier than usual in order to get there on time. Driving it to school at Missouri Southern would be a different story though. That is too far. It would probably take me at least two hours if not more to get to school if I rode my bike. I would also have to cross Rangeline which is way to busy of a street for me to want to cross on a bike. I am excited about my new bike. I am ready to take it for a spin when I have time and it is a little nicer out. Today would not be bad but it is so cloudy and gloomy looking outside. At least the snow is all gone though!

Another Lovely Weekend!

Whenever 8:50 p.m. hits on Wednesdays of each week, I know that this is a great time. That time means that my awesome four day weekend has begun! I know many of you out there are thinking, "What? The weekend consists of Saturday and Sunday." That is true for most, but for me, it starts on Wednesday. This is because Wednesday is my last day of class for each week! Sure  I still have a job to go to, but the days I work there vary from week to week, and I almost always have to work on Saturdays and Sundays, so that really leaves no weekend for me at all. This is why I could the days that I do not have class as my weekends. 


This past weekend was an awesome one. It started out very relaxing just working a short five hour shift on Thursday at everyone's favorite home improvement store, Lowe's. This gave me the rest of the day Thursday to do whatever I wanted! This time consisted of cleaning my house and watching hours of "The Office." Friday was a bit of a rough day. Getting up anytime before 9 a.m. is a problem for me, and on Friday I had to be up at 5 in order to be at work at 6. This sounds rough, but it really is not all that bad since I get to be done with work by 3 p.m. As many of you might of guessed, I crashed and took a nap as soon as I got home that day. That night my best friend since about first grade came over which was really fun. We did not do anything all that exciting, but it was still a good time. Later on that night my husband Steven and I introduced her to a tradition we have each week. This is the tradition of what we call "Pretzel Day." Pretzel day is what we do once a week when we both do not have to work. We go to "The Pretzel Place" in the mall here in town, and we both get a salted pretzel with cheese. For any of you who have never been to this place to get soft pretzels, you really need to go. They are the best soft pretzels ever. 


The following day on Saturday I had another short five hour shift to work. This was the best day of the weekend because my mom came to town to see Steven and me as well as my brother. When I got off work that night we all went to Pizza Hut. It was delicious. Then Steven and I went with my mom to Academy. Here is where Steven bought me some sweet pink boxing gloves. The reason he did this is because he used to cage fight, and I told him I would not let him teach me until he got me gloves. I was pretty excited! Unfortunately after that my mom had to leave to head back home. The next day on Sunday, Steven and I went with my brother, his wife, and her kids to eat lunch at McDonald's. This was a really fun time. The kids are ages three and five. The youngest, Logan, had the hardest time eating. He just wanted to play and have fun. He told me that he liked McDonald's and did not want to leave. After awhile he had to leave though to go back home. After that I was lazy all day until the big game!


Many of you know what game I am referring to. Yes, it was the Super Bowl. I honestly did not pay very much attention to the game until about the end of the third quarter. I also watched the halftime show. Honestly I had no idea Madonna was still even famous, but the show was really good. The male dancers in the white suits were awesome. So was that guy on the wire. After the game was over it was time for bed, and my wonderful weekend came to an end so I could get up bright and early for class on Monday. 

What's With the Gas Prices?

I don't know about anyone else, but these rising gas prices are really not something I enjoy. The price of diesel rose almost twenty cents a gallon literally overnight from $3.59 a gallon to $3.75 a gallon. Unleaded gasoline rose what I consider a significant amount as well overnight. I do not understand the cause of this! Yeah, sure, our economy is crap, but  is this rise in gas prices really necessary? That is what I want to find out. I realize that Americans consume an excessive amount of gas considering that there are some students who will actually drive from the parking lot by the criminal justice building to the main parking lot on campus that is just across the street. It is literally a five minute walk from that building to the student center. I know, I make the walk every Monday and Wednesday. My guess is it most likely takes about the same amount of time to drive as it is to walk so my suggestion to people who do this is to just walk.


When going to a certain website about the rising gas prices, I found that people in the United States consume 19 million barrels of oil a day. This is twenty-five percent of the world's supply. I find that pretty ridiculous. When people ask why we don't use our own oil to help lower these gas prices the answer is because America does not have enough oil to even make a difference considering we have less than two percent of the world's oil reserves. When doing the math, if America were to drill out all the oil know in the country, there would only be enough oil to last us about three years. One thing I did not know is that the price for each gallon of gas is set globally. They figure this amount by how much gas each country pumps, the geopolitical stability of each country, and how much each country has in reserves. Another question I had in mind about gas prices is why do prices for gasoline and diesel differ from state to state? The answer for this actually many different factors such as the greater distance from the supply means a higher price. This helps explain why gasoline is so much higher per gallon in California than it is here in Missouri. Another factor that creates that different gas prices from state to state is the places with fewer gas stations tend to have higher gas prices. Since there is no way America can lower the rising prices on their own, the best solution is to cut off our reliance on oil. A way to do this is to produce better vehicles as well as come up with cleaner fuels. This site stated oil is a bad way to power cars in the first place because only two out of every ten gallons of gas actually moves your car. That is crazy to me to think that that much money putting fuel into our vehicles is wasted. This video clip helped show some of the more fuel efficient cars that are out on the market right now. 


I know that rising gas prices is a problem for anyone that has a vehicle. The higher prices make people think about when they are going to drive, what they need to cut back on in order to pay for gas, and so on. It definitely will limit my pointless trips to Braum's to get my favorite treat, ice cream. This is is something that would also help if everyone cut out those little trips just for one thing. Carpooling would also be something that would help, but with everyone's busy schedule today I see how that is hard to do. Gas prices are high right now and they will most likely keep rising and rising. It is all over the news that gas prices will be well into and above the $4 per gallon region by summertime. This is only a few short months away! The best suggestion I can make is to be more fuel efficient with the gas we have. Instead of driving, take a walk, or ride a bike if where your needing to go is not that far away. If you and your boyfriend are going to the same place as another couple, ride together. This saves on gas as well as providing quality time to spend with friends. Even though it, for lack of a better word, sucks, it is something we are all going to have to deal with and make the best of.

The Importance of Drinking Water

Ever since I was a kid drinking water has never been anything I have enjoyed doing, because I honestly think water tastes gross. It is hard to say that statement since when someone asks me what water tastes like, I don't really know what to answer. It also depends on what water I am drinking. If someone asked me what Pittsburg water tastes like I would tell them pool water, but if someone asked me what the water from my house tastes like I would tell them grass. Even though I can not stand drinking water, I know it is something very healthy for me to do, but I have never actually known why. 
In the article "The Importance of Water and Your Health" posted here about water it states that water makes up over two thirds of our body weight, and as we all know, without water we would all die in a few short days. They would probably actually be long days because I can't see slowly dehydrating and dying as being very fun. So one thing we need water for is to keep from dehydrating. Even with this being a point, I have never once become dehydrated and passed out or anything, so to me that still is not a good enough reason to drink water. One thing that did stand out to me though is  how water really does prevent diseases which is crazy to me. Drinking the typical eight glasses of water a day we have all heard about actually reduces the chances of getting colon cancer by 45% and bladder cancer by 50%. I am not paranoid that I will get cancer, but that does give me a pretty good reason to want to start drinking me some water. 
Another plus to drinking water is that it puts you in a good mood since it makes your body feel better. I am not a crabby person by any means, but there is nothing wrong with feeling good and happy. It also gave reasons such as it helps you lose weight and it makes you look younger, but I barely weigh 100 pounds soaking wet and even though I'm 20 everyone thinks I'm 16, so those don't really effect me too much. One of the ones that caught my attention was that water helps you to concentrate better because I have very difficult times concentrating when I need to in places such as class or church.
The functions of water in our bodies is crazy. It does things like regulates body temperature, protects our vital organs, detoxifies, and much more. Water is what keeps us going strong and healthy. This video on Youtube discusses why water is so good for us and it also brings up how it boosts the metabolism in our bodies to help lose weight. I found an interesting quiz that helps determine how much water people as individuals need to drink a day since everyone is different. It might be helpful for those who want to know for themselves how much intake of water they need. In all water is the best thing for us because it really does keep us healthy, happy, and moving. This research will help me be better about drinking the tasteless, colorless liquid that saves our lives.

Remember When...

Over the course of the past few days my mind has been taking me back to my years in high school. Even though it was not very long ago, I feel like it was ages ago. These were good years with incredible memories with awesome people. Football games, dances, building floats for the homecoming parade, and everyone's favorite, water wars, are just a few fond memories from those days. I find it sad that within a year of graduating from high school, nobody hardly talks to anyone that they grew up with their entire life. I for one wish I would have kept in contact with more of the friends I once had in high school.
My class, the class of 2009, always dominated at the float contests for the homecoming parade between the freshman-senior classes every year. Our first float's theme was "Kings of the Field" where we built a football field on the float and a throne. This was the only year we did not get first place in the contest. The following year we had the theme as "Bullpup Factory" due to our mascot being a bullpup. Yes, we were the Bullpups all the way through school including high school. That year we had a conveyor belt on the float and boxes so it looked like we were building things. We clearly got first that year. The next year, my junior year, our theme was "Breakfast of Champions" where we built massive cereal boxes and a huge bowl that the cereal was pouring into. These were all great ideas, but our senior year is when we had our best float ever.
Senior year we built our float to look like a pirate ship, and it was awesome. We took first place at the school contest as well as coming in second place in a national contest where we won our class $2000 to spend on whatever we wanted. With this money we chose to donate park benches to a school in Kansas who had recently been hit by a tornado, and spent the rest on decorating for prom.Our prom decorating was spectacular as well with the theme being "Bella Notte". Senior year had the most memories for me by far. That year I was nominated for homecoming queen along with 4 of my close friends, then got nominated for prom queen which I won. I admit I was excited about that. 
I'm sure many of you are thinking back on the memories I had, and are wondering what water wars is. It was the biggest week and battles between the junior and senior classes during prom week. The two classes would go against each other in massive water balloon battles and fights everyday of the week in the park of my hometown. It may not sound like much, but it really was a really fun time getting the chance to hang out and have fun with people from my class before we all graduated. 
Even though I do not keep in contact with most of my class, I will always have the memories of the fun times with them in my mind and heart. If I could go back and do high school over, there are definitely things I would change. Even with this being the case I am completely happy with where I am in life. I have a steady job, an amazing husband, and within a year of finishing college and being out in the real world. I definitely have it good!

What Should Happen to the Captain of the Costa Concordia

On January 16, 2012 the Costa Concordia cruise ship sank of the coast of Italy. The captain just happened to be the first and only one off the ship before it began to sink. According to the captain Francesco Schettino, he had tripped and fallen into one of the life boats. Schettino was arrested on Saturday for manslaughter since he is accused of abandoning his ship and those on it.

He not only endangered the lives of those on the ship leaving some dead, 11 confirmed so far, but also endangered the reputation of all cruise ship liners all over the world. After the ship sank many people have been alarmed about taking cruises anywhere, and some have called for refunds. A poll done on a website called SodaHead.com found that at least one fourth of people were less likely to book a cruise after the Costa Concordia disaster.

The sinking of this ship could cost Carnival cruise lines up at $95 million dollars. Their shares fell 16% after the incident of this particular ship sinking after running aground and busting a hole in the side. As for me since I am going on a cruise in March, I am not very concerned about this happening to the cruise ship we are going on. Sure it is a possibility, but there are cruises going on all the time and one of them sinking rarely happens. I do not like to live in fear either, and cruises are supposed to be fun and not full of worry that the ship will sink, so that is how I will handle it. Even though this is the case I might make sure there is a life jacket close.


http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/16/striking-photographs-of-tragedy-in-shallow-waters-as-the-costa-concordia-sinks/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/costa-concordia-sinking-leaves-cruise-ship-passengers-alarmed--and-out-of-luck/2012/01/17/gIQAcybe8P_story.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16573283

This week

This week has been a crazy one, especially due to school. Getting back into the swing of things after having a month off can be somewhat overwhelming. Like most everyone else, I also had some financial aid trouble. Luckly that got worked out just in time so I did not get dropped from my classes. There has been so much homework assigned already as well. I am not complaining, but it is something new to me after transferring from Pittsburg State University where in the year and a half I was there had little to no homework aside from studying for midterms and finals.

I also have a job that keeps me very busy. This week I worked 37 hours. I enjoy my job and the people that I work with. It is  a good environment and everybody gets along for the most part. I can already tell this is going to be a hectic semester taking on 17 hours of school, working almost full-time, and being newly married, but then again it is nothing new since I have been working ever since I turned 16. The being married part is definitely new, but I love every minute of it. My husband and I got married on January 7th of this year. I am so glad that it was a pretty day out, and that it did not snow on us. Everything went really smoothly and we decorated it really pretty. Whenever we walked out we walked out to the theme song music from the hilarious TV show "The Office." I do not know about anyone else but that show is by far my favorite.

We did not do much for our honeymoon right after the wedding. We did go stay at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson for a few nights because someone at my church gave it to us. It was beautiful out there and very peaceful. For our actual honeymoon we are going on a cruise in March which I am very excited for! I have never been on a cruise in my life so it will definitely be a new and fun experience.

Introduction

Hi. My name is Brittany Owen. I transferred to Missouri Southern this semester from Pittsburg State University. I am a junior in college, and am currently employed at Lowes here in Joplin.