The Eagle, the Ass and the Bitch

Once upon a time there was a donkey and an eagle that fell in love. Donkey showed Eagle the ways of the land, introducing her to new friends and means of socialization while Eagle described the skies to Donkey, asking him to motivate and better himself, to get his feet off the ground.

For almost two years, Donkey and Eagle were happy together, learning from each other and enjoying the other’s company. However, Donkey began to realize that he could never truly live up to the expectations that Eagle had for him and he became depressed, but he did not confide any of these feelings with Eagle.

One day, Donkey met a poodle. Although Poodle could not compare to Eagle’s intelligence, sincerity, kind nature, beauty or success, Donkey found himself interested in her and began spending more and more time with Poodle.

After noticing some strange goings on, Eagle confronted Donkey about the developing relationship he had with Poodle. Suddenly, Donkey admitted all of his feelings and it came out that he no longer wanted to stay with Eagle. He left her heartbroken and alone by a tree.

At first Eagle was upset to be abandoned by the one she loved and to see Donkey fawning over Poodle with no respect or sincerity. She longed to lunge at them from the sky and tear them apart. But Eagle realized that because they were confined to lives on the ground, Donkey and Poodle would never be truly happy, while she had the ability to fly free and unfettered.

20 Things I've Accomplished Since Turning 20: #4

By now it is pretty common knowledge that most of the world is being affected by economic changes and difficulties. With that in mind, it is extremely important to focus on spending habits as well as saving for our futures. In the spirit of saving for my own future, I recently opened a ROTH IRA. As this decade's younger generation, we might not be able to rely on social security when we reach the age of retirement, which may be later than our parents are looking at for retirement right now. So don't let the economy get you down; join me and start saving for your future with an IRA!

A Traditional Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a day to spend with family and friends to give thanks for the blessings we have had during the year and for people that are particularly meaningful to us. Along with those traditions, most Amerians also know the "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner that revolves around turkey and includes stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, maybe some green beans and, of course, plenty of pumpkin and apple pie for dessert.

Every year when I was growing up my family followed the traditional Thanksgiving meal, either hosting the day at our house or going to other family members' houses. This year, a few weeks before Thanksgiving Day, my parents informed me that we would be having Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. I wasn't quite sure what to think. First I thought, "Well that's fine... I won't have to do much as far as helping to cook." Then I started to think, "Wait, what about everything we only make just for Thanksgiving... I'm going to miss out on mom's candied sweet potatoes!" I started to panic. This was going to be a disaster. Who goes out to eat on Thanksgiving?!

Not only was I a little anxious about the change my family was making but I began to worry what other people were going to think; I instantly assumed that people would judge me and my family for this choice to not hold a "traditional" Thanksgiving. Some of my friends found it strange and this added to my anxiety about what we were doing.

At the restaurant I began to understand that it really was not such a big deal. In fact, I accepted that what my family was doing was OK. Aside from the fact that I haven't eaten meat since July, I had never been a big fan of turkey. So when I got my plate of diver scallops with mushroom risotto and asparagus I knew I wasn't missing out on that much. A couple of my family members ordered the restaurant's turkey dinner special but the rest embraced our Italian taste buds and indulged in seafood, other meats and pasta.

My family did come back to my house for desserts and oh did we indulge in pumpkin, apple, pecan and chocolate cream pies. At the end of the night, I was happy with our Thanksgiving because even though we strayed from what we had done every year before, our eating habits didn't change the fact that we spent the day together giving thanks for our health and each others company.

Politician Promotions: On Putting Yourself in a Positive Light

We're all well acquainted with the vast amounts of propaganda that surround political races, especially at this time of the year. The television and radio clips that seem to fall into two extreme categories: completely bashing an opponent or promoting one's self.

Choices that these candidates have made in the past are most definitely going to affect how they feel about certain issues. However, "judging a book by its cover" comes into play here and brings up the fact that you can't judge a person solely on their past actions or inactions. A commercial that spends 28 seconds claiming that candidate A doesn't support ______ and has worked hard to fight against ______ followed by two seconds of, "I'm candidate B and I support this message," does not make me want to vote for either of these candidates. First, it makes me want to research candidate A and look into what his or her past mistakes really were and what he or she is planning on doing differently now and in the future. Second, why would a commercial completely bashing candidate A and saying absolutely nothing about candidate B encourage me to vote for candidate B?

I have to give lots of credit to those candidates who choose to utilize their full 30 seconds by promoting themselves. By talking about their own mistakes and communicating how they plan to work on certain issues, they are putting themselves in a very high position. In my opinion, if you are a good enough candidate you should not have to put down everyone else in order to make yourself look good. You should be able to run on the appeal of your characteristics alone.

20 Things I've Accomplished Since Turning 20: #3

Yesterday I successfully completed RA training! Yay! It was an interesting two weeks, that's for sure! I learned all of the rules and regulations of our lovely campus and participated in all sorts of skits and activities. I stepped out of my comfort zone and attempted all sorts of new things all while meeting some pretty great people.

Honey, put that away. Nobody wants to see it.

Last night I experienced my first trip to a club. It really was everything I imagined. And much, much more. Take any high school dance scenario, cut the dresses shorter, add alcohol and allow high-out-of-their-minds older men to enter and presto, you've entered a hip club.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to be a sexy young girl. But when I see body parts that I did not intend to see, something isn't right. Maybe I'm naive or maybe I just don't get it. I feel like a club should allow you to have fun and dance the night away, not wear something you would have fit into when you were five years old and shake everything in a way that blatantly says you're asking for it. In my opinion, go to a strip club. Really.

And having that said, there really were not any guys in the entire place that were worth impressing. I have never seen more sketchballs in my entire life all congregated in one room. They literally stood in a giant circle around the dance floor, drinks in hand, visually raping every girl.

I did enjoy myself, but without a drink in hand or a barrier between me and the creeps it got a little old pretty fast.

20 Things I've Accomplished Since Turning 20: #2

So this definitely isn't anything award-worthy. But as it was a first for me, I found it pretty exciting. Just a week ago I got an e-mail from Amazon. That's pretty normal... I get them on a regular basis, advertisements for new items that I might like to buy. This particular e-mail, though, was different. This e-mail was an announcement telling me that I a textbook that I had posted had just sold!

Yes, I can hear you rolling your eyes at me. But I've never sold anything online before! So I went through all of the steps of packaging, shipping, tracking and confirming the book and today I received the payment. SO cool.

Please Whistle Elsewhere

So first, I must apologize yet again for my lack to follow through with my promise to be more consistent about writing on a regular basis, but this time there is good reason! (Perhaps this blog will turn into a long list of excuses...)

Due to my lack of internet... gasp... I have not been able to do my faithful duty of writing. I suppose that I could have made the 10 second walk to the "WiFi" area a little sooner, but I was quite busy, sprawling on a chair in the sun, forming tan lines and reading as much as I possibly could.

Onward to today's topic. While gaining internet access, signing into my e-mail and Facebook accounts and catching up on everything that I've chosen to avoid for the past week, I endured the most awful whistling. Starting out, it was not quite bad. However, after you hear a not-so-musical-man whistle the same 15 second portion of Seal's Kiss from a Rose, it starts to get just a little bit old.

After about a minute, I glanced up from my laptop to see just who was whistling to himself. He took no notice of my annoyance after a second glance another minute later. After three minutes, it was as if he was intentionally trying to make anyone in a mile radius glare at him in disgust. Which I did. And so I therefore [silently] say, "Please whistle elsewhere!"

As a side note, happy Friday the 13th.

A financial and social survival guide for college freshmen

I'm going to be a published writer in a newsletter for my job! Super neat-o. Here's the article I wrote:

As the summer comes to a close many of us are thinking about the start of another school year. Whether as a student, teacher or parent we are all anticipating school in some way. The 2010-2011 school year will surely bring changes and new experiences for everyone heading back to classes, especially for new college students. Making the switch from high school to college can be one of the most unnerving and exciting transitions.

Here is some advice for adapting to a new social environment as well as some tips for making and managing money while away at school!

Many colleges and universities have campus or local job fairs within the first couple weeks after students arrive for the fall semester. It is important to be aware of this and take advantage of what is available to you. Make sure to attend and apply for jobs that interest you. If you are living on campus, having a job on campus is convenient because you can easily schedule hours between classes and you don’t need to have access to a car in order to get to your job.

If your job—on or off campus—offers direct deposit, sign up! With this in place your paychecks will be going directly into your account to start saving instead of into your pocket where you’ll be more tempted to spend them. Keep track of money in your account and the cash you carry around with you. Be aware when you’re getting low on cash or near overdrawing with your debit card so that you can avoid getting hit with overdraft fees as well. Spending a few dollars here and there, buying coffee on your way to class and pizza or calzones with your friends at 2 a.m. may not seem like a lot, but these little splurges add up.

While you are handling your income and spending, adjusting to a new social environment is just as important at college. Skipping early morning classes and sleeping the day away is tempting, but it is important not to get lazy just because mom or dad isn’t there to wake you up in the morning. If you aren’t a morning person, you’ll learn very quickly that you don’t want to take an 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. class so make your schedule so that you can get to class without any trouble.

The “freshman 15” is a phrase we all cringe to hear, but with a little self discipline it is easy to avoid gaining the pounds. College parties, dining halls and dorm room snacks have the potential to bring your calorie intake to an entirely different level. But by eating normally and working in some exercise every day you’ll be able to keep that extra fifteen pounds away!

Also, don’t get caught up playing video games alone or with your roommate in your dorm. Get out and meet people in your hall, join clubs, go to concerts and explore the campus and the area. Being involved will keep you busy and will lead the way for all sorts of opportunities. Enjoy everything that your school has to offer and you will get the most out of your college experience.

On being a shameful slacker and perfectionist

So despite my attempts to be on top of this blog and write two or three times a week, I have already fallen into a semi-slump. Avoiding blogger for about half a month has proved me a slacker and has produced nothing but thoughts of blogs. My skewed perfectionist approach has let me down once again. It's shameful, I know.

Blog and potential blog readers: I apologize. New blogs are on their way, making the journey from sparks in my brain, through my fingers and magically appearing on your internet screen.