Sunday, November 19, 2006

Uneventful Weekend

Nope, I didn't do anything exciting whatsoever. I did watch the UT-Vanderbilt game (or part of it) and got some things done around here. The big thing going on around here was that game between Ohio State and Michigan, since most of the people here are from those two states (Ohio and Michigan). I couldn't have cared less, but don't tell that to diehard fans!

As you may have noticed from the graphic on the top of my page, I will be going home for Thanksgiving break on Tuesday. I will be leaving here after my one class (Botany Lab) which will hopefully be over by 3:00, if my professor is feeling festive. (Observant readers may notice that normally I have Chemistry Lab on Tuesdays. Well the labs were cancelled for this week, since they didn't want the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday sections to get behind.) The drive will take about 4 hours, since I know I will be hitting some rush hour traffic AND holiday traffic. This puts me at being home around 7-7:30, depending on if I have to stop, and factoring in the traffic. I will be home from Tuesday night through Sunday afternoon, and will be arriving back here Sunday night.

Besides the family traditions of Thanksgiving, I will also be working some during this break. I plan on working a couple of nights and one day shift, just to have some extra money. My boss at Ingles is more than willing to work this out with me, so that really is a good thing. However, I had to fill out paperwork again to go back to work, which was another thing I did last night. It will be good to get back to work and earning that almighty dollar again.

As for the rest of this school week, it should go along fairly well. Last week I had one test and a paper due, but obviously there isn't enough time this week to do anything like that. Mondays are relatively short, and since I won't have Chemistry Lab on Tuesday, I can sleep in! Oh, and some of you may be interested in hearing that the University has already decorated for Christmas. They have put lights on all the lamp posts and decorated a tree with lights on the Residential Mall. Many of you know already how I feel about all that, but I'll enlighten you again if you have forgotten. I think people should at least wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate and think about Christmas. (The Church doesn't start until Advent; why can't society behave the same way?) So, as Aunt Monica so eloquently quipped, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Well, that's really all I wanted to report. I was just sitting here and felt like writing for awhile, since I really don't have much to do today. I will probably leave one more post before I leave on Tuesday (maybe Tuesday morning). As you can probably imagine, I will not be blogging like normal while I'm away, but you can be assured that I will fill everyone in when I get back. Talk to y'all later, and have a great rest of your weekend.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

In Memory of Sharon

As many of you know, Sharon Selby passed away one year ago today. If you want, you can go back to my former posts a year ago and read all I had to say at that time:

Sharon Selby Part I - November 18, 2005

Sharon Selby Part II - November 21, 2005

I have been struggling with accepting her death for some time now, yet I think I am finally getting to that point of acceptance. It was especially hard considering I hadn't seen her in so long, plus she had been suffering so much up to her death. I had been communicating with her via e-mail just a month or so before her passing, and yet, I didn't even see what was right in front of my face. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, so now as I read that final e-mail she sent only days before her passing, I can see what I had missed back then. At first I felt guilty, but eventually this turned into anger and sadness.

One year later, I think I am finally getting to that point of acceptance. It has not been an easy "journey" but it is happening. It has taken a lot of prayer and meditation, which, ironically enough, were things Sharon took heavy stock in. I finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing I could do, so guilt was not necessary. I should not be angry or sad, but joyful. Sharon has been freed of her pain and suffering on Earth and received her reward (hopefully) in Heaven. It is kind of odd that this has taken me so long to accept this, but I'm glad I finally am. I have realized that all I can do is "let go and let God" as they say, and that's what I have been doing. I just got back from Mass and lighting a candle in the Church for Sharon. Prayer really works!

Well, that's really all I have to say today. I'm sorry to vent all my feelings into this blog, but that just so happens to be my outlet. Let us thank God for the gift of Sharon in our lives, and ask Him to watch over her now and forever. Let us also ask Sharon to intercede for us and watch over us. We miss you and we hope to see you again in Heaven.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

One Helluva Week

What would you call it when you had FIVE tests, a project, and a paper due, all in the same week? I would have to call it HELL WEEK!! That's exactly what happened to me this week, and thank God it's finally the weekend. I had a Sociology project due on Monday, a Botany Lab test and a Chemistry Lab test on Tuesday, an English paper due on Wednesday, and a Botany test, a Chemistry test, and a Calculus test on Friday. WHEW!! That was most definitely the busiest week of my life... Not to mention that the three tests on Friday were back-to-back with no breaks!

On top of all the tests, etc. was registration for classes next semester. My time was at 1:00 yesterday afternoon, so I jumped on my computer and started choosing. I got closed out of one of the classes I wanted to take, so initially I was only registered for five classes (12 credit hours). Later that night, after my last class of the day, I looked around for other classes to fill it's spot, and now I have 15 credit hours. Here are the classes I will be taking next semester:

BIOL 360 - Cell Biology
CHEM 242 - Organic Chemistry II
CHEM 243 - Organic Chemistry II Lab
ENGL 205 - Literature and the Moral Imagination
MATH 156 - General Statistics
PSYC 101 - Introduction to Psychology

That's two fewer credit hours than this current semester, so that should work out very well. But I obviously don't want to dwell on thoughts about next semester, since the current one is more important right now!

Other than that, I really haven't done much. I just got back from Wal-Mart and getting a little snack, and tonight I will have laundry (and perhaps some homework). I hope this post finds everyone well, and I'll talk to y'all later!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Death Penalty, Anyone?

We had a discussion in Sociology Monday morning about that very topic: capital punishment/death penalty. It started out fairly innocent, but as it usually does with controversial topics, it gets fairly heated. However, there were quite a few good points, for both sides of the issue.

The main reason I wanted to start this post was to start a discussion. I know what I believe, which will not change drastically based on others' beliefs, but I wanted to hear the opinions of real people out there. It is difficult to have a discussion like that with other teenagers, since they are hasty to accept someone's opinion when it is different from their own. Also, it tends to get more heated, and personalities (and words) tend to clash. I figured that an online discussion involving more mature individuals would be more civil. So, what do you think?

Just to start the ball rolling, I'll give my opinions on the matter. Killing doesn't justify killing. What kind of message are we sending if we kill people? It's saying that the government can kill people, so it can't be all wrong. It all comes down to the Law of Non-Contradiction, which states "something cannot both be and not be at the same time, in the same way, and in the same respect." We can't say that killing is wrong and then kill someone, even if they are murderers. Plus, for these people, death is WAY too easy. Death is instant, and in today's world, virtually painless. A life-time jail sentence is much more drawn out, and can be painful depending on the prison. However, as my Sociology professor pointed out, some prisons treat the prisoners more like royalty than murderers. I think the prison system needs to buckle down and make prison more like boot camp; we can't torture these people, but we should at least be more firm with them. Maybe if our prisons were more like that, we wouldn't have the problems with overcrowding (and a 90% return rate of prisoners after release). What do y'all think about all that?

So anyways, that's all I have to say about that. Now I want to hear from you. Agree or disagree, let's keep it clean! We are (mostly) family here, so I hope we can keep that in mind. We are all adults and are quite mature, and I don't anticipate any problems, so let your voice be heard! Talk to y'all later!