When I sat down to write this blog, I was not entirely sure what to write about. But, now that I have had some time to think about it, I will tell you all about my life up until this point.
I was born in Macon, Georgia and lived there for twelve years. I have two sisters and 3 brothers. The first five years of my life, my mom was married to my dad. They divorced when I was five and my mom remarried about two years after that. My new step dad was in the Air Force and in 1992, there were cut backs in the Air Force and he was let go. He worked odd jobs for about two or three years just to support us. By that time, my mom and step dad had a baby named Rachel. He worked as a car salesman, at the post office, and as a manager at Waffle House. I admire him greatly for the sacrifices he made for our family.
In January of 1996, we moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina so that my step dad could begin a job working in the Air Force again at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. I was devastated. I did not want to leave the friends and the only home that I had ever known. It took a few months, but I became adjusted and life was great. My little brother, Kevin, was born then and there were now six of us in my family. We lived in Goldsboro, NC until I was fifteen years old. My step dad was getting transferred again, and this time we were going back to Georgia. I should have been excited because I was going to get to see all of my old friends and I have family that live there, but I liked my life in North Carolina.
We moved to Warner Robins, Georgia in 2000. My step dad said that by moving here, he would not have to be gone as much and that we would be here for at least three years. My parents bought a house and painted everything to their liking. Five months after moving into our house, he got orders to move to San Antonio, Texas. I would now be enrolling in my third high school and starting over yet again.
Moving to San Antonio, Texas defined me in a way. I was a lot closer to my family because we moved to a place where everyone was unfamiliar. The town that we lived in was unlike anything I had ever seen and the people were different as well. We only had each other to support until we could maintain friendships. That was hard to do because I was “the weird girl from Georgia who talked funny”. There were a lot more things to do in San Antonio than there were in Warner Robins so we too advantage of that. We went camping, hiking, and skiing a lot during the first couple of years there.
I graduated high school in 2002 and promptly made my exit out of my family’s house. I just needed that freedom and to experience things on my own. I moved to Lubbock, Texas, which is about six hours northwest of San Antonio. The year that I lived there was one of the best experiences of my life. Sure, I was a poor, starving college student, but I was doing it on my own. After a year of living in Lubbock, I decided to move back to Warner Robins, the black hole, and be closer to my dad’s side of the family. His parents are still alive and live here along with his brother and sister and all of there children. I started going to school and working at Blockbuster Video.
In January of 2005 I met the most amazing guy ever. His name is RJ and we have been dating for a little over 2 years now. He is everything to me. He makes me what I am. I get butterflies just thinking that I am going to get to see him when I get home from work. I know that this sounds silly, but it’s true. He is my soul mate, I love him to death and I would not trade him for anything in this world.
I hope that this gives you a little insight into my quirky world.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Love and Murder
Topic: Guilty As Charged, But?
To take someone’s life is regardless of who that person is, is immoral. Mr. Gilbert did not want his wife to suffer anymore and while that was a very noble act on his part, it is still wrong. Who can vouch for him other than his now dead wife? No one really knows if she said that she wanted to die or not.
I believe that his conviction of guilty was right. If he was granted freedom, then that would have shown other people that it is okay to just go around killing other people if they say it is okay. What would our world come to? There are thousands of people dying of Alzheimer’s this very minute and I’m sure that they feel like dying every day, but I don’t believe that they would want that burden to fall into the hands of someone that loved them. I know that I could not kill someone that I loved even if they asked me to.
Mr. Gilbert claimed that his wife told him that she wanted to die. It now comes down to the he said she said controversy. But Mrs. Gilbert is not alive to give her recounts of how it actually happed so we could not use her as a witness. Instead of killing her, Mr. Gilbert could have just been with her everyday to show his love and compassion. She may not have known that he was in the room. But sometimes just being in the room puts the Alzheimer’s patient at ease.
I don’t think that our laws were put into place for such instances as this. Our laws state that you cannot kill another person and get away with it. But, according to Mr. Gilbert, he was just following his wife’s last wish. Our laws are very black and white. There is not a lot of room for gray area. This is definitely a gray area issue. I think that this whole issue could have been avoided if Mrs. Gilbert had just done it herself, and not involved her husband at all.
To take someone’s life is regardless of who that person is, is immoral. Mr. Gilbert did not want his wife to suffer anymore and while that was a very noble act on his part, it is still wrong. Who can vouch for him other than his now dead wife? No one really knows if she said that she wanted to die or not.
I believe that his conviction of guilty was right. If he was granted freedom, then that would have shown other people that it is okay to just go around killing other people if they say it is okay. What would our world come to? There are thousands of people dying of Alzheimer’s this very minute and I’m sure that they feel like dying every day, but I don’t believe that they would want that burden to fall into the hands of someone that loved them. I know that I could not kill someone that I loved even if they asked me to.
Mr. Gilbert claimed that his wife told him that she wanted to die. It now comes down to the he said she said controversy. But Mrs. Gilbert is not alive to give her recounts of how it actually happed so we could not use her as a witness. Instead of killing her, Mr. Gilbert could have just been with her everyday to show his love and compassion. She may not have known that he was in the room. But sometimes just being in the room puts the Alzheimer’s patient at ease.
I don’t think that our laws were put into place for such instances as this. Our laws state that you cannot kill another person and get away with it. But, according to Mr. Gilbert, he was just following his wife’s last wish. Our laws are very black and white. There is not a lot of room for gray area. This is definitely a gray area issue. I think that this whole issue could have been avoided if Mrs. Gilbert had just done it herself, and not involved her husband at all.
Monday, March 19, 2007
I Choose Freedom
Topic: America as Empire?
What main reason can you pick out of the text that supports his arguement?
America is rotten. If we become on Empire, the government will be able to control everything. From what is on television, to the kind of clothes we wear, or the type of car we drive. America becoming an Empire seems contradicting to me. Wasn't America founded as "The Land of the Free"? What freedom do we have when the government picks out our cereal in the morning?
In my daily life, I have the freedom to choose what to do with my day. Sure, there are some structured activities such as school, work, or family obligations that we do, but no one is holding a gun to my head making me do these things. Becoming an empire is not going to solve all of our problems. There will always be loop holes and people that do not like the government, just like there are today. The government may believe that they have an air tight society and that nothing will get it; trust me, it will. People are deceitful and full of hatred. Some people hate the government now, just imagine how it would be if the people we to be controlled in an Empire. Scary.
If we are to be controlled by an Empire, who is to decide who runs it? Mailer’s concern for the well being of our country is profound. He is so scared that we are going to listen to everything the media has to say and not make any decisions for ourselves. I don’t think that anyone can really say that they know what is going on in Iraq. All we know is what the media is feeding us. I do believe that some of America is rotten but you have to have a balance in everything. I have used this idea in other blogs, but if everyone was the same, then we would all be robots. I want to make my own decisions and to feel emotion.
What main reason can you pick out of the text that supports his arguement?
America is rotten. If we become on Empire, the government will be able to control everything. From what is on television, to the kind of clothes we wear, or the type of car we drive. America becoming an Empire seems contradicting to me. Wasn't America founded as "The Land of the Free"? What freedom do we have when the government picks out our cereal in the morning?
In my daily life, I have the freedom to choose what to do with my day. Sure, there are some structured activities such as school, work, or family obligations that we do, but no one is holding a gun to my head making me do these things. Becoming an empire is not going to solve all of our problems. There will always be loop holes and people that do not like the government, just like there are today. The government may believe that they have an air tight society and that nothing will get it; trust me, it will. People are deceitful and full of hatred. Some people hate the government now, just imagine how it would be if the people we to be controlled in an Empire. Scary.
If we are to be controlled by an Empire, who is to decide who runs it? Mailer’s concern for the well being of our country is profound. He is so scared that we are going to listen to everything the media has to say and not make any decisions for ourselves. I don’t think that anyone can really say that they know what is going on in Iraq. All we know is what the media is feeding us. I do believe that some of America is rotten but you have to have a balance in everything. I have used this idea in other blogs, but if everyone was the same, then we would all be robots. I want to make my own decisions and to feel emotion.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Waving the Flag
Topic: Why Are We At War?
As I was beginning to read Norman Mailer’s book, Why Are We At War?, I was not quite sure that I was going to be able to relate to anything that he was going to say. Sure, I am an American, but I was not so sure that I was going to understand all of the political undertones in this book.
One of the biggest things from the book that I can relate to, is his idea of patriotism. He says that just because of the falling of the Twin Towers, people have begun waving flags in every direction. They are putting flags in front of their homes when there not even a second thought of the American flag before. Business owners are selling flags like crazy in any store in America when before, all they sold were the goods and services they advertised.
I do not think that you have to wait for a war to show your patriotism. If we were so excited to show our love for America, we should have been waving flags and adorning our cars with bumper stickers long before September 11th. People are very compulsive with their flag waving. I am afraid that pretty soon, the American flag with lose some of its meaning with the way it is portrayed right now.
Norman Mailer used a great term for what is going on in today’s society after 9/11. He coined the term “promiscuous patriotism”. I believe that means that people are waving flags just because someone told them to, or because everyone else is doing it too. You should want to wave a flag because you are an American, not because someone told you that it was a good idea. It’s almost like people are saying that they should hurry up and wave a flag because that is going to save the world from terrorism. Waving a flag means rejoicing over your country, not scaring someone away.
As I was beginning to read Norman Mailer’s book, Why Are We At War?, I was not quite sure that I was going to be able to relate to anything that he was going to say. Sure, I am an American, but I was not so sure that I was going to understand all of the political undertones in this book.
One of the biggest things from the book that I can relate to, is his idea of patriotism. He says that just because of the falling of the Twin Towers, people have begun waving flags in every direction. They are putting flags in front of their homes when there not even a second thought of the American flag before. Business owners are selling flags like crazy in any store in America when before, all they sold were the goods and services they advertised.
I do not think that you have to wait for a war to show your patriotism. If we were so excited to show our love for America, we should have been waving flags and adorning our cars with bumper stickers long before September 11th. People are very compulsive with their flag waving. I am afraid that pretty soon, the American flag with lose some of its meaning with the way it is portrayed right now.
Norman Mailer used a great term for what is going on in today’s society after 9/11. He coined the term “promiscuous patriotism”. I believe that means that people are waving flags just because someone told them to, or because everyone else is doing it too. You should want to wave a flag because you are an American, not because someone told you that it was a good idea. It’s almost like people are saying that they should hurry up and wave a flag because that is going to save the world from terrorism. Waving a flag means rejoicing over your country, not scaring someone away.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Love and Deception
Topic: Alligator River Story
This story is about a woman named Abigail that is in love with a man named Gregory. I honestly believe that love can make you do crazy things. In this case, sleeping with another man to get to the one you love. That, in my opinion, is unacceptable. Abigail may have been trying to get to Gregory, but she was doing it very selfishly. She should have thought about how he would feel being put into that situation.
I rated Abigail with a five. She was very selfish and there could have been other ways to get across the river. She didn’t need to sleep with another man. If she truly loved Gregory, then she would not have hurt him like that. She could have taken a vacation day from work and driven the 50 miles to go see him.
I rated Gregory at a four. If he loved Abigail as much as the story implies, then he could have found a way to get to the other side of the river and be with her. True love is about compromise, not about being one sided. From the story, he did not seem to want to see her that bad.
Number three would have to go to Sinbad, the boat captain. I am a very compassionate person and I always try to do anything and everything for other people. Doing something for your own personal gain, is not something that I agree with. If Sinbad had asked for a monetary gain instead of a sexual favor, then this story would be completely different.
I would rate Slug with a two. He saw how upset Abigail was and decided to take matters into his own hands. That is a very respectable trait, but it’s all about how you handle the situation. Violence never solves anything. Although it may have made Abigail feel better in the moment, she probably will feel guilty later on, and you can’t change what has already happened.
My number one pick would definitely have to be Ivan. We don’t know much about him from the story, but he chose to stay out of it completely. He was not comfortable giving Abigail advice on her situation and didn’t. Some people may not have advice for a certain situation, but they give advice anyway. Ivan did not have advice and didn’t give any. That is a very admirable trait.
This story could have gone a couple of different ways based on different decisions made by characters. If Abigail really loved Gregory, she would have not made the decision to sleep with Sinbad and waited for the bridge to be rebuilt.
This story is about a woman named Abigail that is in love with a man named Gregory. I honestly believe that love can make you do crazy things. In this case, sleeping with another man to get to the one you love. That, in my opinion, is unacceptable. Abigail may have been trying to get to Gregory, but she was doing it very selfishly. She should have thought about how he would feel being put into that situation.
I rated Abigail with a five. She was very selfish and there could have been other ways to get across the river. She didn’t need to sleep with another man. If she truly loved Gregory, then she would not have hurt him like that. She could have taken a vacation day from work and driven the 50 miles to go see him.
I rated Gregory at a four. If he loved Abigail as much as the story implies, then he could have found a way to get to the other side of the river and be with her. True love is about compromise, not about being one sided. From the story, he did not seem to want to see her that bad.
Number three would have to go to Sinbad, the boat captain. I am a very compassionate person and I always try to do anything and everything for other people. Doing something for your own personal gain, is not something that I agree with. If Sinbad had asked for a monetary gain instead of a sexual favor, then this story would be completely different.
I would rate Slug with a two. He saw how upset Abigail was and decided to take matters into his own hands. That is a very respectable trait, but it’s all about how you handle the situation. Violence never solves anything. Although it may have made Abigail feel better in the moment, she probably will feel guilty later on, and you can’t change what has already happened.
My number one pick would definitely have to be Ivan. We don’t know much about him from the story, but he chose to stay out of it completely. He was not comfortable giving Abigail advice on her situation and didn’t. Some people may not have advice for a certain situation, but they give advice anyway. Ivan did not have advice and didn’t give any. That is a very admirable trait.
This story could have gone a couple of different ways based on different decisions made by characters. If Abigail really loved Gregory, she would have not made the decision to sleep with Sinbad and waited for the bridge to be rebuilt.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Who is right? Who is wrong?
Topic: Human Rights v. Majority Rule
What the majority thinks has always been an issue with me. What if what I feel is not what the majority feels? Am I wrong? Who is to say that what I feel is right or wrong. Each one of us thinks differently and acts differently about things so that we are not all robots. Some people say that you should not do things because God does not want you to, but God gave me a brain so that I could think for myself.
The first issue that comes up for me is the idea of living with someone before you get married. I have always believed that you should get to know a person inside and out before you are going to spend the rest of your life with them. You can love someone unconditionally but you may not be able to live under the same roof as them. You will not know that until you test it out. Outsiders would say that you are sinning against God, but only you know what goes on in your own relationship. I believe that once you are an adult that your parents can give you advice, but they should not be able to tell you what to do anymore. It is your decision.
As for homosexuality, I have quite a few friends that are of the gay community and I don’t look at them any different than I would of a heterosexual person. What you choose to do with your own life is your business and I am not about to judge anyone. Members of the gay community should have the same opportunities as everyone else. What if they didn’t tell you that they were gay? Some gays have no flamboyant tendencies and you would never know that they liked the opposite sex. They are judged based on their sexual preference? We are in 2007, that kind of stuff is portrayed on television now, why haven’t we gotten past it? Just because a person is gay, it does not mean that they are going to impose there values and beliefs about homosexuality on anyone. They will not try to force themselves on to you. There are just like heterosexuals, they just like the same sex.
I was raised that if you are to say that you are gay, then you are condemned to hell. As I have grown up and established my own beliefs, I now know that being gay is not to spite anyone, it’s a way of life for some people. Just because someone does something that is against the majority rule does not mean that they are scarred for life. The may be just different that others. Once again, we are not robots. We are individuals making decisions based on what we believe and trying not to follow the crowd.
I believe that there is a time and a place for everything. Gays should not hoot and holler at every restaurant, every concert they go to, or every class that they attend. But when you want to get your point across, you do it.
What the majority thinks has always been an issue with me. What if what I feel is not what the majority feels? Am I wrong? Who is to say that what I feel is right or wrong. Each one of us thinks differently and acts differently about things so that we are not all robots. Some people say that you should not do things because God does not want you to, but God gave me a brain so that I could think for myself.
The first issue that comes up for me is the idea of living with someone before you get married. I have always believed that you should get to know a person inside and out before you are going to spend the rest of your life with them. You can love someone unconditionally but you may not be able to live under the same roof as them. You will not know that until you test it out. Outsiders would say that you are sinning against God, but only you know what goes on in your own relationship. I believe that once you are an adult that your parents can give you advice, but they should not be able to tell you what to do anymore. It is your decision.
As for homosexuality, I have quite a few friends that are of the gay community and I don’t look at them any different than I would of a heterosexual person. What you choose to do with your own life is your business and I am not about to judge anyone. Members of the gay community should have the same opportunities as everyone else. What if they didn’t tell you that they were gay? Some gays have no flamboyant tendencies and you would never know that they liked the opposite sex. They are judged based on their sexual preference? We are in 2007, that kind of stuff is portrayed on television now, why haven’t we gotten past it? Just because a person is gay, it does not mean that they are going to impose there values and beliefs about homosexuality on anyone. They will not try to force themselves on to you. There are just like heterosexuals, they just like the same sex.
I was raised that if you are to say that you are gay, then you are condemned to hell. As I have grown up and established my own beliefs, I now know that being gay is not to spite anyone, it’s a way of life for some people. Just because someone does something that is against the majority rule does not mean that they are scarred for life. The may be just different that others. Once again, we are not robots. We are individuals making decisions based on what we believe and trying not to follow the crowd.
I believe that there is a time and a place for everything. Gays should not hoot and holler at every restaurant, every concert they go to, or every class that they attend. But when you want to get your point across, you do it.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
The World Is Changing
Topic: Technology
Technology is our greatest boon. I believe that we should pursue it at all costs. It is only out there to better our lives. Once something is discovered or invented, you cannot argue with it. You cannot argue that the sky is blue or that trees are green. There is no way around it. Science and technology affect our everyday lives whether we like to believe it or not.
To me, Bill Joy acts like he is very paranoid. He sees the advancing of technology like some kind of death sentence. One must think with an open mind about new things. Things around us are going to change and they may not be so bad. When things change people may be a little hesitant to accept them, but for the most part we all just jump on the bandwagon and go with it. Everyone has their own opinion about technology, but the media plays it up so well, that we just go out and buy that new gadget without even blinking. Almost everyone in America relies on cell phones, computers and cars and they are not taking over our lives.
I believe that in the future there will be robots in every household. Something that complex does not even begin to have a timetable attached to it. There are a lot of factors that go into technology like that. It just depends on who is willing to work on it. If you have a lot of people who do not agree on the robots, then they will not work on getting them into homes faster. Joy thinks that once robots are in every home then the human civilization as a whole will decline. I believe that they will be there to better our lives, not disrupt them. We will have more time to spend with our families and to not live our lives constantly working for that almighty dollar.
I definitely support the idea of expanding technology. I think that it will benefit all of us in one way or another. It just may take some people a little longer to get adjust to it, just like it took older generations to get hooked on cell phones. Technology is not bad, it’s just change and change can be a good thing.
Technology is our greatest boon. I believe that we should pursue it at all costs. It is only out there to better our lives. Once something is discovered or invented, you cannot argue with it. You cannot argue that the sky is blue or that trees are green. There is no way around it. Science and technology affect our everyday lives whether we like to believe it or not.
To me, Bill Joy acts like he is very paranoid. He sees the advancing of technology like some kind of death sentence. One must think with an open mind about new things. Things around us are going to change and they may not be so bad. When things change people may be a little hesitant to accept them, but for the most part we all just jump on the bandwagon and go with it. Everyone has their own opinion about technology, but the media plays it up so well, that we just go out and buy that new gadget without even blinking. Almost everyone in America relies on cell phones, computers and cars and they are not taking over our lives.
I believe that in the future there will be robots in every household. Something that complex does not even begin to have a timetable attached to it. There are a lot of factors that go into technology like that. It just depends on who is willing to work on it. If you have a lot of people who do not agree on the robots, then they will not work on getting them into homes faster. Joy thinks that once robots are in every home then the human civilization as a whole will decline. I believe that they will be there to better our lives, not disrupt them. We will have more time to spend with our families and to not live our lives constantly working for that almighty dollar.
I definitely support the idea of expanding technology. I think that it will benefit all of us in one way or another. It just may take some people a little longer to get adjust to it, just like it took older generations to get hooked on cell phones. Technology is not bad, it’s just change and change can be a good thing.
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