I am not sure how I feel about the Happy Holidays stuff. Back in the day it was proper and polite to say Merry Christmas but today it's Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings, etc. I have found this to be most prominent at schools. Before I left for break my friends and I were talking about how this made us feel. Long story short, we don't believe that we should have to say Happy Holidays to respect other's traditions when we can't even respect our own in saying Merry Christmas. I get it, we want to respect everyone elses' feelings but in doing so we aren't respecting our own. I have family that is Jewish and I tell them Happy Hanukkah, not Holidays. I must admit though, when I am at the grocery store or with people I don't know well enough to know their religious, or lack of religious, background I do find myself saying Happy Holidays... All I am saying is I wish I didn't, I wish we could just say Merry Christmas because majority of our great country celebrates Christmas and the others who don't should tolerate our traditions as we tolerate theirs. Just a thought....
It's okay to say "Merry Christmas"!
Monday, December 19, 2011
What's goin on?
Well, I did it! I survived my very first college quarter- with all A's and one B! No complaints.
Now, I'm home and I am so happy to be here in sunny California! Much nicer weather than Oregon. It's nice seeing Josh and all my friends from high school- man that feels weird to say, as if I've aged 5 years because I have friends from "high school". One major thing I love about being home now is the fact that I feel like I've left my college bubble and been released back into the cold, harsh, real world.
I actually know somethings about the happenings of the world. For example, our final troops have left Iraq after 9 years! They left deep in the darkness of the night and drove the 160 miles into Kawait. I was very happy to read this, after all thousands of soldiers' lives were lost and billions of the United States' dollars were lost while we were there- now how long until we leave Afghanistan... If ever. I really don't forsee that happening anytime soon which is sad but the world is a harsh place and I am thankful for my freedom and my safety and for the men and women serving our great country to ensure both of those things.
Another current event, Kim Jung-il has died of a heart attack on a train ride. Jung-il was the leader of communist North Korea and his death has put South Korea at attention and on guard for whatever North Korea may do. This kind of puts me on alert because the United States has a military base in Japan (Thank God my cousin is on leave from there right now!) and Japan is a major supporter of South Korea, as is the U.S. Some said the only thing that would collapse the communist country would be the sudden death of Jung-il but it looks as though that will not be happening which is sad. Freedom is so sweet!
Well, I would say after a week of being out of my bubble those are two important world events to have taken place and I'm happy I got to actually hear their entire stories!
Merry Christmas and I plan to post again soon but plans change!
Now, I'm home and I am so happy to be here in sunny California! Much nicer weather than Oregon. It's nice seeing Josh and all my friends from high school- man that feels weird to say, as if I've aged 5 years because I have friends from "high school". One major thing I love about being home now is the fact that I feel like I've left my college bubble and been released back into the cold, harsh, real world.
I actually know somethings about the happenings of the world. For example, our final troops have left Iraq after 9 years! They left deep in the darkness of the night and drove the 160 miles into Kawait. I was very happy to read this, after all thousands of soldiers' lives were lost and billions of the United States' dollars were lost while we were there- now how long until we leave Afghanistan... If ever. I really don't forsee that happening anytime soon which is sad but the world is a harsh place and I am thankful for my freedom and my safety and for the men and women serving our great country to ensure both of those things.
Another current event, Kim Jung-il has died of a heart attack on a train ride. Jung-il was the leader of communist North Korea and his death has put South Korea at attention and on guard for whatever North Korea may do. This kind of puts me on alert because the United States has a military base in Japan (Thank God my cousin is on leave from there right now!) and Japan is a major supporter of South Korea, as is the U.S. Some said the only thing that would collapse the communist country would be the sudden death of Jung-il but it looks as though that will not be happening which is sad. Freedom is so sweet!
Well, I would say after a week of being out of my bubble those are two important world events to have taken place and I'm happy I got to actually hear their entire stories!
Merry Christmas and I plan to post again soon but plans change!
Monday, October 24, 2011
In the spirit of breast cancer awareness...
It is currently freezing in our room and my hands are ice but I am making myself some tea and settling down for a night of relaxation. And by relaxation I mean blogging, skyping Joshua, and then sleeping.
So, Ali and I just went to another RA's program tonight called paralyzing parabens. I had seen the posters all week and kept wondering what the heck a paraben was. Well I got the answer! It is a chemical; one of the 80,000 chemicals registered for use in the United States. This particular chemical is a known cause of breast cancer in male and females. I find this quite disturbing.
Why might you ask? Well lets see, I am a female and after examining my shower and moisturizing products I have discovered that indeed some of my products contain parabens and since I am a woman I am already at a higher risk of breast cancer than lets say.... oh I dont know, MEN!
This is also scary because it is found in many of the products we use daily such as makeup, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, cleaning supplies, and other house hold items.
So tonight, Ben (the other RA) wanted us to leave with something and I left with something. I am one person but I know people and those people know more people. So since the people I love read these posts, leave with this much: go and check your products because even though they FDA has recognized it as a problem they have not banned it from being used in everyday products. So I am not saying to throw out everything you have that contains these chemicals but next time you're stocking up check the label! Look for the 6 types of parabens methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, butylparaben and benzylparaben.
Cool kinda scary video...
http://www.kabntr.org/videos/keep-a-breast-foundation-non-toxic-revolution-psa/
Okay so onto happier subjects! I took my second biology test today and I went to my professor's office hours after class to review the answers. I only got one wrong! I am very pleased with this as you may imagine. And I got 100% on my ASL pop quiz so I am really pleased with that too!
And then after class I came back to my awesome hall to be greated by my amazing RA Blair (sometimes when I yell her name from across the dining hall I say Blair-Bea... like beautiful... but I don't think she has noticed quite yet...in time). Anyways she LOVES GLITTER! And I must admit it rubs off on me. She reminds me of glitter too, she is always smiling her sparkling smile and you can't help but be happy around her, just like glitter, always sparkling and you can't ever not be happy around it. She set up a program tonight for the girls in our hall for about me posters that we can post up around the hall so that we all know each other and that way our visitors can get to know us too!
We are the only all girls hall in Ackerman (our dorm) and we are called First Taylor but we like, Charm school, the estrogen hall, and first tea. Or choice of drug is hero-win because we refuse to hero-lose, and we know how to have fun playing board games until the early hours of the morning. We have education, nursing, psychology, anthropology, communications, broadcasting, biology, and ASL majors among others. We are diverse and different but I can dig it!
Like I said, I love college. I only have one complaint. I like news, I really do. I like to stay somewhat informed on the happenings around me especially since I am of age to vote now. At college we are supposed to be recieving a higher education, and we are but I really feel like I'm in a bubble, I don't know anything about the country, or the world. I try to catch up at the gym because there are TV's there but lets be honest, its really hard to find motivation from Fox News.... I did just find out about an earthquake in Turkey? So many natural disasters lately, but they're in our hopes and prayers.
Well that is all, time for JOSHUA<3
Goodbye for now and sorry for the rants but I am an outspoked college student so get used to them;)
With love and best wishes,
Jen
So, Ali and I just went to another RA's program tonight called paralyzing parabens. I had seen the posters all week and kept wondering what the heck a paraben was. Well I got the answer! It is a chemical; one of the 80,000 chemicals registered for use in the United States. This particular chemical is a known cause of breast cancer in male and females. I find this quite disturbing.
Why might you ask? Well lets see, I am a female and after examining my shower and moisturizing products I have discovered that indeed some of my products contain parabens and since I am a woman I am already at a higher risk of breast cancer than lets say.... oh I dont know, MEN!
This is also scary because it is found in many of the products we use daily such as makeup, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, cleaning supplies, and other house hold items.
So tonight, Ben (the other RA) wanted us to leave with something and I left with something. I am one person but I know people and those people know more people. So since the people I love read these posts, leave with this much: go and check your products because even though they FDA has recognized it as a problem they have not banned it from being used in everyday products. So I am not saying to throw out everything you have that contains these chemicals but next time you're stocking up check the label! Look for the 6 types of parabens methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, butylparaben and benzylparaben.
Cool kinda scary video...
http://www.kabntr.org/videos/keep-a-breast-foundation-non-toxic-revolution-psa/
Okay so onto happier subjects! I took my second biology test today and I went to my professor's office hours after class to review the answers. I only got one wrong! I am very pleased with this as you may imagine. And I got 100% on my ASL pop quiz so I am really pleased with that too!
And then after class I came back to my awesome hall to be greated by my amazing RA Blair (sometimes when I yell her name from across the dining hall I say Blair-Bea... like beautiful... but I don't think she has noticed quite yet...in time). Anyways she LOVES GLITTER! And I must admit it rubs off on me. She reminds me of glitter too, she is always smiling her sparkling smile and you can't help but be happy around her, just like glitter, always sparkling and you can't ever not be happy around it. She set up a program tonight for the girls in our hall for about me posters that we can post up around the hall so that we all know each other and that way our visitors can get to know us too!
We are the only all girls hall in Ackerman (our dorm) and we are called First Taylor but we like, Charm school, the estrogen hall, and first tea. Or choice of drug is hero-win because we refuse to hero-lose, and we know how to have fun playing board games until the early hours of the morning. We have education, nursing, psychology, anthropology, communications, broadcasting, biology, and ASL majors among others. We are diverse and different but I can dig it!
Like I said, I love college. I only have one complaint. I like news, I really do. I like to stay somewhat informed on the happenings around me especially since I am of age to vote now. At college we are supposed to be recieving a higher education, and we are but I really feel like I'm in a bubble, I don't know anything about the country, or the world. I try to catch up at the gym because there are TV's there but lets be honest, its really hard to find motivation from Fox News.... I did just find out about an earthquake in Turkey? So many natural disasters lately, but they're in our hopes and prayers.
Well that is all, time for JOSHUA<3
Goodbye for now and sorry for the rants but I am an outspoked college student so get used to them;)
With love and best wishes,
Jen
Thursday, October 20, 2011
What is an appropriate name for these things...?
I'm not one hundred percent sure how these work but I figured I could give it a shot.
I'm not full of free time so don't expect these too often but I will do them when I can.
To be completely honest I don't know why I am writting this. I figured if I was going to waste my time, I could waste it writing and exercising this brain of mine. I guess I'm also writting this because, as I have learned through past experiences, I enjoy writing but only for fun unless the topic for class is intriguing in some way which as we all know is rare.
So where to begin... Let's go with school shall we?
So far my classes are pretty simple but I'm not getting used to it because starting next term they are progressively getting more difficult but that it is college and I am pretty sure that goes without saying. No complaints though, I mean I do pick what classes I want when I want them so....
I am taking 4 classes, a nice ease into college life. I have biology 101 with Dr. Ava Howard-- may I just say, that is something to get used to, "Dr." I miss high school because I could simply call them Mr., Ms., or Mom in one case. Howard is great, she's really nice and very understanding and knowledgeable about her subject. I have no complaints about her class, it's not overloaded with homework like I expected and there aren't any dissections either which is an added bonus!
Then I have American Sign Language (ASL) 103 which is so painfully easy it kills. The class would be much better if one of our classmates wouldn't act like a know it all- those kind of people really rub me the wrong way! I feel so bad for my professor. Her name is Miriam Richards and she is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. She is deaf, in her late fourties-early fifties and she has MS. But don't let that fool you, she is the only woman in the world to have peaked the highest point in 49 of the 50 states, she tried Alaska (Denali) twice but her MS was pretty bad and she had to give up, still that is one hell of an accomplishment! She wrote a book about it, they sell it here but it's $24.95 and as much as I love her, I'm already paying hundreds of dollars for her class so I plan on seeing if the library has a copy- my hopes aren't high, Western is certainly loyal to it's professors as any college should me.
My third class is irritating English 104: Fiction. My teacher, 30 year old Mr. (..or is it Dr.?) Matthew Haas with the red round glasses.. you know the ones that make you question a person's sexuality, yea those ones. Well any ways he is beginning to lose his credibility as a "smart person" more and more every day therefore, I find that class boring and a rather waste of my time.
And finally my most disappointing class is Zumba with Jan! Now let me tell you about Jan... From what I can tell she must have been cheer captain of her high school when Jesus was the quarterback- in other words she's old! But I also took it at CalFit with real instructors that weren't 80 years old and they didn't teach it like a dance class-- matter of a fact, they didn't teach it at all! They threw you to the wolves, it was glorious I would leave a hot, sweaty mess... Here however is an entirely different story. Here my heart rate never goes above 110 and that's on a good day.
Well, that is my rant on the learning part of school.
I love my friends here already! As me and Stephanie like to say we have our College Core Four that consists of Stephanie, Brittany, Alison, and I. We have decided we are going to be friends when we are thirty and we all have kids and husbands and we're successful. We're going to be those people. We do crazy things together; we stay up late playing Cranium, we go on Safeway runs to Dallas late at night, we recreate the pictures in the Backstage Pizza Place from some ancient play or something. Whatever we do though, we have fun! That's all that matters.
Speaking of Roseville, I miss it. Well not Roseville exactly, more that people that inhabit Roseville.
Joshua. Of course. 7 months in 6 days. Time FLIES. I miss him, a lot. I think about him all the time. Especially when I daze off in class. Those day dreams are sweet. They make my heart flutter and give me those butterflies. Those ones that tell you you really found him, you really love him. I can't wait until he comes up to see me! Only 29 days left! And then I get a whole FOUR days with my Joshua:)
I'm not full of free time so don't expect these too often but I will do them when I can.
To be completely honest I don't know why I am writting this. I figured if I was going to waste my time, I could waste it writing and exercising this brain of mine. I guess I'm also writting this because, as I have learned through past experiences, I enjoy writing but only for fun unless the topic for class is intriguing in some way which as we all know is rare.
So where to begin... Let's go with school shall we?
So far my classes are pretty simple but I'm not getting used to it because starting next term they are progressively getting more difficult but that it is college and I am pretty sure that goes without saying. No complaints though, I mean I do pick what classes I want when I want them so....
I am taking 4 classes, a nice ease into college life. I have biology 101 with Dr. Ava Howard-- may I just say, that is something to get used to, "Dr." I miss high school because I could simply call them Mr., Ms., or Mom in one case. Howard is great, she's really nice and very understanding and knowledgeable about her subject. I have no complaints about her class, it's not overloaded with homework like I expected and there aren't any dissections either which is an added bonus!
Then I have American Sign Language (ASL) 103 which is so painfully easy it kills. The class would be much better if one of our classmates wouldn't act like a know it all- those kind of people really rub me the wrong way! I feel so bad for my professor. Her name is Miriam Richards and she is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. She is deaf, in her late fourties-early fifties and she has MS. But don't let that fool you, she is the only woman in the world to have peaked the highest point in 49 of the 50 states, she tried Alaska (Denali) twice but her MS was pretty bad and she had to give up, still that is one hell of an accomplishment! She wrote a book about it, they sell it here but it's $24.95 and as much as I love her, I'm already paying hundreds of dollars for her class so I plan on seeing if the library has a copy- my hopes aren't high, Western is certainly loyal to it's professors as any college should me.
My third class is irritating English 104: Fiction. My teacher, 30 year old Mr. (..or is it Dr.?) Matthew Haas with the red round glasses.. you know the ones that make you question a person's sexuality, yea those ones. Well any ways he is beginning to lose his credibility as a "smart person" more and more every day therefore, I find that class boring and a rather waste of my time.
And finally my most disappointing class is Zumba with Jan! Now let me tell you about Jan... From what I can tell she must have been cheer captain of her high school when Jesus was the quarterback- in other words she's old! But I also took it at CalFit with real instructors that weren't 80 years old and they didn't teach it like a dance class-- matter of a fact, they didn't teach it at all! They threw you to the wolves, it was glorious I would leave a hot, sweaty mess... Here however is an entirely different story. Here my heart rate never goes above 110 and that's on a good day.
Well, that is my rant on the learning part of school.
I love my friends here already! As me and Stephanie like to say we have our College Core Four that consists of Stephanie, Brittany, Alison, and I. We have decided we are going to be friends when we are thirty and we all have kids and husbands and we're successful. We're going to be those people. We do crazy things together; we stay up late playing Cranium, we go on Safeway runs to Dallas late at night, we recreate the pictures in the Backstage Pizza Place from some ancient play or something. Whatever we do though, we have fun! That's all that matters.
College Core Four
Stephanie, Me, WOLFIE, Alison, and Brittany
Other than that, I love Oregon. The weather is taking some serious getting used to since I am getting reports of 80 degress in Roseville while its a whole 50 degrees here. Speaking of Roseville, I miss it. Well not Roseville exactly, more that people that inhabit Roseville.
Joshua. Of course. 7 months in 6 days. Time FLIES. I miss him, a lot. I think about him all the time. Especially when I daze off in class. Those day dreams are sweet. They make my heart flutter and give me those butterflies. Those ones that tell you you really found him, you really love him. I can't wait until he comes up to see me! Only 29 days left! And then I get a whole FOUR days with my Joshua:)
Bodega Bay 2011
Me and Josh
He brought me here for my 18th birthday, it was my first time going there and I loved every minute of it!
I miss Kaitlynn too. That kid twin sister of mine that I love so dearly! And Shelbie Michelle Delestine the sister of my own age that I love and miss so much! We stay in contact though which I was afraid of. College really is a test of who your true friends are.
Disneyland 2011
Shelbie, Kaitlynn, and I.
I miss Roseville but I wouldn't go back for all the money in the world. I need to be here, at Western with these new people, these new classes filled with these new opprotunities. It is my turn to grow and I am taking every advantage of it. And to make things easier on me, I have piece of mind in knowing that that boy I love, Joshua Hunter Lewis, yea he is coming here next year and
I.
Can't.
Wait.
That's all for now.
With lots of love & best wishes,
Jen
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