Weekly Blog 10: Break

I think winter break is one of the best ideas anyone has ever come up with. I mean this person should get some kind of award. I wish we had this in high school! Teachers are even ready to take a months break to just relax with their families and not deal with school. School really puts the pressure on you especially when you are working a full time job with it. It;s hard to keep up with assignments. I know I am fully ready to be done with school for a while.

You get some time to enjoy all the snow that just came down. Even if your like me and you will just go to work and sit inside to look at the snow. It's still enjoyable. I am going to move this break into a new apartment, and a lot of my friends are going home for the month.

Kids who live in dorms have to be out by the end of the week. And I'm sure their families are going to be very happy to see their kids for the month. They will be home for the holidays and that's what makes this break so great!

Weekly Blog 9: A Time Of Giving

This weekend I was having a conversation with a guy I work with and he just so happens to be going to college to try and become a Pastor when he gets a little older. He asked me what I thought about Christmas and I replied that it was not my favorite holiday of the year, my favorite is Halloween. He was shocked as most of you probably would be at that answer. Don't get me wrong I do like Christmas because I like getting together with my family and having a good time. Back to my story, as I told him that Christmas was not my favorite Holiday he responded with telling me how awesome it was to be getting gifts and what he got his wife this year. This is exactly the reason I do not like Christmas. You would think him wanting to be a pastor he would want to tell me about the spirit of Christmas and why that was his favorite holiday. But even he is blinded by the shallowness and material objects that had takin' over the true meaning of Christmas. Who ever said Christmas is the time of giving is wrong! It's the time to love your families and all the people around you who make you happy. In today's society this day is all about who got the most, the best, and the most expensive gifts. People are shopping for this one day for a whole month, if not longer. This makes me sad as a person to see how materialistic our culture is now. We should take back the meaning of Christmas and enjoy just being around the people who mean the most to us.

Weekly Blog 8: Injustice

I know a lot of people disagree with me on this subject (my mother especially) but I think this is one of the biggest social injustices today. I feel that everyone should be able to marry the person they want. Yes this blog is about why we should legalize same sex marriage. This ban on same sex marriage is taking away homosexual peoples constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness. I know the biggest opposers of making this legal is the church. But I am sorry to say for those people that here in the U.S we have what is called a separation of church and state. Which means that the church has no influence over what becomes law. This is a bit confusing to me, since the church is the one saying that this is wrong and the state is following this rule then really where is the separation? Remember what back when you couldn't even marry the same race? Well now that is possible, so why can't this be possible. There are many consequences to not being able to marry your spouse such as; not being able to see them in hospitals, when they die you have no control over their belongings, you have to have different insurances. There are many others too. I just think that if we do have this separation of church and state then there really should be no problem to make having gay marriage legal, it is their right to be happy no matter who they have chosen to love.

Weekly Blog 7: Snow

This might sound a little weird since I was born and raised in Minnesota, but I really hate the winter. I am one of those snow haters. It;s just to cold for me and I would love to move anywhere that it's warm enough that I don't ever have to see snow again. The way I think of it, snow is cold and wet, you have to wear like a billion layers just to keep up your body heat in the winter. Winter has the icy winds that make your entire face freeze if your outside longer than two seconds. This is why there is such a thing called SAD (seasonal affective disorder), this is where people actually get depressed because of the weather in winter. The cold temperature, not being able to go outside, and the darkness.Have you ever noticed that not even the sun comes out in winter? That's enough to make anyone depressed. I have tried to get out there in winter and try skiing and snowboarding, but its just too cold I guess. I don't like being wet and cold 24/7. Snow is only fun for about a week. Then the roads become piled with it, so you can't drive anywhere. You can't do anything but sit inside and sip on hot chocolate.

Weekly Bog 6: Hunting

This is the season where all the big and little hunters are getting ready to set up their stands and go home for the weekends to sit up in trees all day. I think killing for sport is a sick hobby and shows signs of those people to be serial killers. I just find it sad that people can actually take joy and excitement out of causing pain and suffering to such beautiful creatures. We all know that most hunters who do shoot deer don't kill them instantly. If you really think that you live in a delusional happy world. Most of the time the deer will run off and die slowly suffering/ bleeding out. Would you want to die in such a way? I know deer are over populated and I have no problem with people who kill animals for survival. I'm sure that we can figure out a better way to keep the population down besides just letting the weirdos of society out in the woods with guns. I have herd many hunting stories that just chill me to the core even thinking of them now. I have been hunting in my life (not by choice) but it literally gives me nightmares to even think about what happened there. It is barbaric how hunting is and how it is portrayed to others. The bigger the better and the more to brag about? Ddisgusting.

Narritive

I knew things were going to be changing, my whole family dynamic would be different the day I found out my 15 year old sister was pregnant. My sister is 16 months older than me so with our ages being so close my mom knew she was in for trouble. She was right; we pretty much fought our entire lives together and caused a lot of trouble. Everything changed that night though, you could feel the tension in the house lighten and bonds start to form as our love for one another came out in care and compassion. I am a strong believer in everything happens for a reason after all that has happened in the past three years from my family’s little miracle.

            Let me start off with the background of me and Ashley’s relationship together. We were the typical little girls, always stealing each other’s things and tattling on each other. Don’t get me wrong we had our good times when we were growing up together but once middle school came, everything seemed to hit the fan. I remember one particular summer where Ashley and I would get into physical fights with each other, left countless holes in the walls from throwing things and some doors were broken. We weren’t even allowed to be home alone together at this point in our lives, someone had to be there with us or we had to go to a day camp to be watched. That was the worst we had ever gotten, but once that was over the emotional fighting never stopped. After all we went through even I think it is nuts that we can be so close now, but it was almost like none of that had ever mattered or even happened the night she told me.

            Everything was a normal day as far as I was concerned I came home from school and was watching some TV with one of my friends. The only thing that was sort of out of the ordinary was that my mom and Ashley were having a huge fight over the phone and were screaming at each other. All I had to do was wait for my mom to get home to find out what that was all about. As soon as my mom walked in the door she came up to me and asked “Did she tell you?” I replied, “No” and immediately got that sick feeling you get when you know something super bad is about to happen. We all sat down in the living room and my sister turned to me and said, “Angie, I am pregnant.” I just started to laugh because I thought it was a joke, it only took a couple seconds for me to realize she was serious when she started to tear up. In that moment my heart dropped and I was scared of what was going to happen. It was really weird what happened next. We didn’t even talk about it, like everyone knew everything there was to know so we didn’t need to speak about it. That night the past was the past to both me and my sister and we put aside everything that happened in our childhood and started to act like real sisters. I helped Ashley with everything she needed, we went shopping together and I would talk to her about all of her concerns with the baby. We would hang out and talk about everything, we became best friends. Never fighting or even really disagreeing, we worked together to do everything for the first time ever. It went by really fast but finally the day came we all were preparing for, the day I got to meet my baby nephew. 

            You know how most people will tell you that women almost always go into labor at night? Well now I am a believer in that, Ashley had come home on December 1^st complaining of stomach pains that wouldn’t go away. Around ten thirty at night my mom decided that she was going to take Ashley to the hospital. Ashley was 16 at the time and she was very scared of what was going to happen. Since she was so young and so scared the hospital admitted her a little earlier than they would have any other pregnant women. Once I found out they were going to stay it was my job to drive Ashley’s car to the hospital to be there for support. I was 15 and only had my learners permit so I was nervous to drive at night in the snow illegally. When I arrived at the hospital my sister was walking around trying to speed up her labor, she looked like she was in a lot of pain. So I walked with her for about a hour while my mom called the rest of the family. Even though it was around eleven thirty my entire family showed up and had pretty much a pizza party in the waiting room. I thought having a baby was supposed to be a happy and enjoying experience but I was very wrong. I couldn’t be in the room with Ashley, as if I really wanted to anyways. But I was outside of the room the entire time. It was literally the worst night ever. I had to sit outside that room and listen to my sister scream and cry for hours! It sounded like she was being murdered very slowly and painfully. After getting so close to someone it sucked having to hear them be in so much pain. I pretty much cried the whole time, I’m not afraid to admit that. Carter was born on December 2^nd at around 6 in the morning. My family only got to see him for around fifteen minutes before the doctor and nurses started noticing discoloring of the skin and strange movements of his legs. The doctor decided it was best to send him to the cities to United Hospital for more in depth observation. Ashley couldn’t go with since she just had him, so my mom and I followed the ambulance to the cities to see how everything was and if he would be okay. Carter ended up staying at United for two weeks, we went every day to see him, talk to him, and hold him. They ran tons of tests on the kid and they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Carter is now almost three and he is one of the smartest little kids I’ve ever met.

            If I have learned anything from this experience I’ve learned that miracles sometimes come in the worst times and in the strangest ways, but they are always worth it in the end. You can’t always prepare for the future so when unexpected things pop up you just have to take them in the best ways. The birth of my nephew Carter was probably the best thing that had ever happened to my family and to me personally in my life. He made our family come together and really start acting like a real family. Everyone got so much closer and we forgot about the past, not only did I gain a new member of my family but I got a sister and best friend as well.

Weekly Blog 5: Poor Mr. Bush

I don't know about anyone else in the U.S but I am getting pretty tired of hearing people make fun of former President George W. Bush. He just had a interview with Matt Lower and it seems to be spreading like wildfire around the country on Youtube and on the radio. I can't even think of how many time's I have heard that interview. In my opinion it wasn't even that bad. I think that now people are trying really hard to make fun of this poor guy. Yeah he might be a little weird, but lets try to remember that he was VOTED into office TWICE. Obviously he was in there for a reason, the people wanted him there. Just because things didn't go perfectly during his Presidency everyone is so quick to judge and turn their backs on him. Even ridicule the man who worked to keep this country safe and did all he could for us in a time of need. He was this countries savor during 9/11 and now he is everyone's favorite chew toy. I feel bad for him because he can't even speak in public anymore without people tearing into him, I'm not saying he doesn't say ridiculous things sometimes. But keep in mind I also didn't vote for him either, like the majority of this country did. We are too quick to turn on people these days, if things don't go as expected. Take a look at our current President who a lot of people were so excited for him to be in office, he offered change to this country that everyone liked at one point. Now Obama is getting criticisms for the changes he wants to make because not everyone liked the current changes he already made. I'm sure our Presidents have the countries best interests in mind, they do all they can to try to make it a better place for everyone. I don't think they work so hard to get into the oval office just to say, I think I'm going to run this country into the ground now and try to piss everyone off. Maybe everyone should do more research before going to the polls instead of just voting by the past and skin colors of the people on the ballot.

Weekly Blog 4: Guess Who Got Sued

So today I just happened to be scanning the news on Yahoo when they had informed me that some poor 6 year old girl is being sued in New York. Here is the story, the New York Supreme Court Justice Paul Wooten has decided this 6 yr old is old enough to be sued for something she was accused of when she was 4! When this little girl was 4 she was riding on the street in her dangerous vehicle (a training bike) looking for trouble. She was out for blood when she ran into a elderly women (who was 87). I am sad to say that the elderly women did have to have hip surgery and died soon after, but to sue this girl for a random accident would be just as sad. She is just a innocent little girl and couldn't have possibly planned to run into this lady. There was no intention, no motive, no reason for her to want to cause harm to anyone. After all she is four and no toddler I know is trying to hurt anyone like that. It was all just a horrible accident that got out of control due to the elderly lady's medical conditions and age. I am so appalled to see that this 6 year old's life is going to be tarnished by such a ridiculous ruling. How could you ruin someones life over this, where is the line on who you can or cannot get into a courtroom now-a-days. Maybe since we find it easy to sue this little girl we should just throw her in jail for murder. Come on now people... 

Weekly Blog 3: Pandas

There is now two new additions to the Panda reserve in Sichuan province! Last week Yo Yo gave birth to twin cute baby Pandas. Bringing this years total number of new baby Pandas to 19, surpassing last year by one little baby. There are roughly around 1,600 Pandas live in the wild today and about 300 that are kept in captivity. Pandas are on the endangered species list because of  loss of habitat, poaching, and their low birth rate. This information is from Yahoo.com.

I think it is great what they are doing with the Pandas. They use artificial insemination to try and raise the birth rate of these beautiful animals and keep them on our planet. I love Pandas they are my favorite kind of bear if I had to choose one. On another note this article kind of made me sick because it brought the thought of poaching to my mind. I'm not one for any kind of hunting, but to kill a animal on the endangered species list just to make money really gets to me. I think it is disgusting people can do that. We all need to do our part in this world to keep it nice for generations to come, and to keep all the wild life we can. So stop having so many babies so we can have room for the creatures, they are more enjoyable anyways. Well most of the time. 

Weekly Blog 2: Trashed

Naples Italy is experiencing one of the dirtiest and stinkiest problems ever. After the city proposed the creation of a new dump, people went postal. Sanitation workers went on strike and the city protesters started compiling their trash in the streets. 2,400 tons of garbage is now piling up in the streets in Naples, and the European Union is threatening to fine Italy if it doesn't clean it up soon. All this information is according to Mike Krumboltz at Yahoo.com.

This kind of has me wondering, we have so many things and people we take for granted in our lives. Sanitation workers who come pick up garbage everyday have a disgusting and thankless job. But without them our daily lives would be thwarted. We couldn't do the simplest of tasks like drive to work without garbage being in our way. Don't even get me started on the smell. We all take a lot of things and people for granted, I think we should take time in our day to reflect on the little things. So we can start to realize how many things make our lives the best they can be from day to day.

Weekly Blog 1: Proposition 19

 Proposition 19 is the new thing on voters minds in California, it is all about if they should legalize marijuana this November. The law states that anyone who is an adult (21 or older) can legally buy and use marijuana. Now everyone knows that doing drugs is extremely bad for your health so I'm going to give you a little more insight on why it is a bad idea to legalize it. But also give you some in sight into why it could possibly be a good idea too. We will start off with the negatives, first off it is damaging to people's health and making it legal would lure people to do it more therefore making it physically harmful to people in the long run. The president of Mexico calls the law "absurd" and thinks it is going to have a back pedal effect to trying to keep the Mexican drug cartels as less violent as possible. Saying that if marijuana is legalized there will be more violence then ever for American citizens. Some who agree with Prop 19 say that it will create more jobs in the state and diminish crime because violent criminals could no longer profit off the illegal trading of the drug. Legalizing this drug could become the economic boost/stimulant California needs. It's going to be a hard decision for the voters in Cali next month, a recent poll from the New York times says that Proposition 19 in the end will be legalized with a vote close to 52%. The rankings change every week so no one can be sure. All I know is that it could be a very new and most likely hectic beginning for the coast.

Tinkering School

Well I will start off by giving you my opinion on Gever Tulley video. I thought his idea of teaching these children how to work like this is great, he is letting them make their own mistakes on the projects and teaching them problem solving skills. He doesn't tell the kids how to do things so when they finish a project they can feel well accomplished on what they achieved. These children get to decide on what they want to make and how they want to make it, which is very different than the schooling system now-a-days. In schools now the teachers give you projects and you have to follow strict rules on how to make it. That in my opinion is stifling creativity in the younger kids today. Anther thing I felt was great about his approach at teaching was that when the kids got stuck on a problem he let them take a break and decorate the unfinished project, allowing them to take a step back and relax made it easier for them to clear their minds and figure out a solution to the problem. This my also help them to never give up, most times if you get stuck on a problem and you stress about it you just give up to make it easy on yourself. But this way they learn that solutions will just come and not to just drop the thing all together.

I would love to go to a school with this approach, I think I learn better through examples and working things out visually so this seems to be right up my ally. I think all kids should be able to do something like this. Kids today are to sheltered because parents are to scared bad things will happen to them or they will get hurt sometimes. What they don't know that sheltering your kids like that is keeping them from having a lot of fun. And it also keeps them from learning valuable skills that would actually help them in the long run when they are adults.

Weird but fun..

Costumes, role playing, and adult like comedy skits these are only some of the things the Renaissance fair had to offer over the Labor Day weekend. Sounds pretty weird right? Well I am with you on that, I was one of those people about a week ago. I never thought I would go to anything like that, since I don't really get into role playing and all that good stuff. When I went home for the weekend my family surprised me about this little outing. I wasn't to happy with it at first, but it was actually a super great time. Of course the first thing I noticed about it was how many people were there. I would have never expected that many, we could barely find a place to park. Then the second which is the most noticeable was the costumes. My family and I had a lot of fun looking at all the men in tights and women in huge dresses, everyone talking like they just came out of a time portal. Two of my favorite things about this place were; the food and the comedy skits that played every half hour. I am completely addicted to chocolate so I was going to that stand every ten minutes, I must of eaten my body weight in chocolate that day. The skits were supposedly PG-13 but I wouldn't recommend any kids to go see  them, if you know what I mean. So really if your ever looking for something new and out of your comfort zone to try, go there it's surprisingly a good time.

A Little About Me

To start off my name is Angela O'Brien, but most people call me Angie. I was born and raised in Hastings, MN. This is the first time I am moving away from home so I am pretty excited. I have a off campus apartment with one of my friends, it's a really nice place right on the river. My birthday is August 15th which means I pretty much just turned 18. I was always the youngest person in my grade. Right now I am here at Western for the nursing program, but I'm kind of debating on that right now so I don't know what I will be doing after I get my generals done with. My favorite thing to do in my spare time is listen to music and go to concerts, I like a really wide variety of music so I will listen to like anything. My favorite bands to listen to are A Day to Remember and Mayday Parade, which I got to see both of them in concert and they were amazing! Back home in Hastings is my family and my dog, his name is Rusty and he is a brittney spaniel. Before I moved out I lived with my mom, my sister and my nephew. My family is really close so I have to make trips home at least once a month to see them. I am a summer baby so I hate winter and I refuse to go out if it's cold. In the summer I spend most of my time at the beach or at my family's summer cabin. I just lay around, swim, wake boarding, knee boarding, and a lot of boating.:)