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Okay, I fixed it so that anyone can comment on the blog even if you do not have a Gmail account.

So comment!

Please... :)

Tippy and the Tribble

Curry and I chased around the cat with the Tribble Meagan bought me in Las Vegas. I know its kinda mean, but it was freakin' hilarious! I found this song on You Tube. You can watch the whole thing here if you're a Trekie like me. Yes, it's a real song by a real band that makes CD's based on Star Trek.

Awesomeness.

NERDFIGHTERS!

I'm in the video!

I feel slightly famous, kinda... Either way its pretty cool.

Thank you John Green!

I <3 John Green (In a fan-of-his-books-and-vlog kinda way)

YEAH!!! Today I got to see and meet John Green! He signed my books and everything! He gave a speech on "How We Are Connected" and it was very good and inspiring. He talked about the ways text connect people and who it connects. It was something I had never thought before and was intriguing to me as someone who wants to be a writer. Of course, he was funny and made several Nerdfighter references that had the Nerdfighters in the crowd giggling.

Yeah John Green! We'll see if I end up in tomorrow video... *fingers crossed*
John signing my books

John and I with my sign. I like how the arrow thats suppose to be pointing to John, isn't... : )

NERDFIGHTERS!

TV: A Good Excuse to Stay Up Late and Avoid Homework

A college student always needs a good excuse to stay up late and procrastinate on homework, so cheer up college students everywhere! New seasons of the way too many tv shows are starting this week. Tonight I watched House and Law & Order: SVU. Thursday is the start of CSI: and ER. Haha! Yeah tv!

Crud...

When I was about 15 minutes from school this morning, therefore roughly an hour from home, I realized I had left my wallet and cell phone in my other purse at home... Now I'm left at school with no money and no time nor gas to go back home and get them.

ARG!

John Green

OH MY BOB!!!!!!!!! *runs up and down the hall with hands on face looking like the kid from Home Alone*

John Green from Brotherhood 2.0 is coming to give a lecture and do a book signing at my school! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I read that today I was so excited I thought I was going to scream out loud in the middle of "Quiet Study" in the library. Oh my goodness... I'm still getting over the initial shock...

Anyway, he will be here this Thursday, September 27 at 7:00pm in the Keller Hall Reception Room for anyone who cares to know that information and I will be there with my Nerdfighters sign and my camera like an obsessed Elvis fan.

NERDFIGHTERS!

I Love Books

More books!

The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shara

Another great Civil War novel by Jeff Shara. I have to say that I was having a rather stressful week when I was listening to this so a lot of the time I wasn't actually listening, but what I did pay attention to was very good. This is the last book in the series on the Civil War by Shara and his father, Michael Shara. I was very close to crying in the end, there were definitely tears there.
Shara is so good at putting a person behind the historical figures in his novels. There was emotion and reason behind the characters actions, they were all different and unique in their own way. There was a personal connection between the reader and the men who changed American and even world history.
That is the way I like to learn my history.

1984 by George Orwell

Good ol' George... Another political satire that just makes you think, "Oh my bob, this is scary...". There are way too many things in this book that relate to today, way too many. And the ending is just plain sad.
Gotta love it.

Read for school:

Utopia by Sir Thomas More

Wow, dude has some serious reality issues... Very good to read and study when analyzing the lead up of the genre of science fiction. Horrible pleasure reading... Good thing I was reading it for the former purpose.

Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift

I remember reading this in the Illustrated Classics version a long time ago and I liked it then as well. Of course, I was able to get some new things out of it and actually figure out what it all means now but its still as entertaining as ever.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I loved this book. I laughed, I cried, I cringed. It was good times. And that's all I can really say.

The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and The Public Should Expect by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

This is the book my first test in Journalism was on (see previous post). I learned so much from this book, probably because I didn't know anything about journalism when I started. It was incredibly informative and easy to understand.

Right now I am listening to Gods and Generals by Jeff Shara. I had started reading it on the road trip to VA but didn't finish it and don't have time to do the actual reading part so I'm finishing it up with the audio book version.

I'm reading short stories for my English class and am almost done with (or have to be done with by Monday) The Sociology of News by Michael Schudson, a professor at UCSD (University of California San Diego). Not as good as Elements but I'll talk about that later.

I do love books...

(Sorry about all the fuzzy pictures... They're close enough.)

95%

Woohoo! I just got out of my Journalism class where I was handed back the first test that I got a 95% on! Yeah! I was a little worried when the professor made comments about grading generously which meant we should be scared, implying that we did not do to well. I am so glad he wasn't talking about me.

In other news, work is going well. Restaurant drama does exist but at the Blue Heron, at least, its not that bad.

I am working on dropping my History class. I know, sad, but the homework is getting in the way of my other classes that count for something and that I am enjoying much more. Unfortunately I have to get a form signed a few times and its going to cost me something like $10 but right now I'm seeing it as worth it.

Tomorrow I meet with a Career Development Center (CDC) counselor to talk about general things like career options and how to go about getting them. I also have to decide my major soon and I am stuck between a rock and a hard place: English and Journalism. Maybe I can do both, maybe I'll do one and then get a job in the field of the other. We'll see. I am thankful for the CDC, they have already helped me to write a resume and now they're going to help me figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life, or at least a small part of it anyway. I also like the fact that the CDC has the same acronym as the Center for Disease Control, makes me laugh. Ha! (That was me laughing...)

And I think I've had too much coffee...

She Works Hard for Her Money

Okay, maybe not hard but hard enough...

I do have four jobs.

Wasn't that some great shock value? I do have four jobs but a few are pretty easy. I'll start on Sunday.

Sunday: Guitar lessons for two kids from church - $40
Monday: Babysitting 1 little boy for 2 hours then he and his two brothers for another 1 hour - $30
Tuesday: Pick up a girl from school and take her home (takes about 15 minutes) - $15
Wednesday: Hostess/waitress at the Blue Heron Restaurant from 3pm - 9pm ish - $ varies, about $30 in tips alone
Thursday: More waitressing
Friday: More babysitting - $40
Saturday: More waitressing

Trying to manage your time and getting sleep when you're dead - priceless.

At least I'm making enough!

Chicken Pot Pie

Before I got here, the family had an inside joke going about Curry and chicken pot pie. They were eating a restaurant and the waiter was taking their orders. When it came to be Curry's turn, he told the waiter in a sing song voice, "chicken pot pie".

That may not be funny when written so I took a little video...

I didn't know guys could marry dragonflies and then have them fly away with chicken pot pies...

First Day

Today I did my first day of waitressing at the Blue Heron restaurant here in Charles City. It was pretty good, a lot harder than I thought but good. I only dropped one plate, some blue cheese dressing and put in one wrong item. And I got a 20% tip on the tables so it couldn't have been that bad. Or they just felt sorry for me...

Now I am exhausted. At least I don't have school until 10am tomorrow so I don't have to wake up until 7:30am...

Lack of Post-age

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I have been SOOOOOOOO busy with school and work. But no need to worry! I'll try to get some stuff up tomorrow and/or Thrusday for you. I have some great videos of Curry and the County Fair. And I now officially have four jobs! How's that for a teaser?

Coming soon!

Morphine

A New York Times Article about the lack of morphine in poor countries. (If you can't view it then you may have to sign up which is free, easy to do and well worth it.)

This kind of writing is what I want to do. I want to go to places and see the people that are suffering and inform the world about it so that something can be done.

I just don't know how to go about it.

Any suggestions?

Books, Books, Books! On tape...

Because I have an hour long drive to school and then another hour long drive on the way home, I decided to start listening to audio books during the drive.

Luckily, Heritage Library in Providence Forge, about fifteen minutes from Grandmama's and on my way to school, has a very good selection of audio books. I was seriously impressed. They have more audio books in this little library then they do in Escondido in our rather large library.

So I took advantage of it and have been through three books and am on my fourth since last Monday.

I started with A Mt. Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark

Mary Higgins Clark has done it again! This was different from the murder mysteries, obviously. A very good love story that wasn't completely mushy.

Then The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

I cried. This book was excellent. I have also read For One More Day by Mitch Albom and it was good. Five People was amazing.

Next was The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

At first, I was freaked out. The story was a little strange. As it on, though, I fell in love. Honestly, I don't think I would have liked this book or even finished it if I hadn't been listening to it. The voices of the characters, especially Zachariah Cashwell, made the story more real and interesting. And the fact that it was based on a true story helped too.

Labor Day Funness

Sorry about the lack of posting for a while. School has been INSANE from day one. I have a lot of reading but its been fun and interesting. Anyway, here's Labor Day!

Grandmama and I went across the road (1 mile) to Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Alex's for a Labor Day Cook Out. Uncle Alex used to own a restaurant so he's a good chef. We had steak, chicken, pork, beans, vegetables, all kinds of good stuff. It was fun watching the kids try to kill each other too. Oh to be a teenager again. NOT! Haha...

First things first, the dogs. Uncle Alex hunts and raises beagles so they have a lot of dogs. LouLou, Moonie and Spidey are the main house dogs right now. Soon all the beagles will be running around the yard. At least they're cute.
LouLou scratching her back.

Spidey

Moonie. He's so cute!

And there's always Buster, Grandmama's dog. He's a cranky old fart but I love him.

The front of the house.

The side where everyone actually goes in.

Curry and his pickle. We (mostly Leslie) ate an entire jar of pickles. Then Curry proceeded to throw the pickle at the girls which led to the next picture.

Charlotte putting Curry in a head lock. Sibling love.

Everybody

Aunt Marjorie, Leslie and their friend Allison

Leslie, Allison and Curry

Allison on Charlotte's shoulders. Those kids are nuts.

We had a great time with great food. I had to go to school earlier in the day but it wasn't so bad and I was home in time for food. I love living close to family. Being able to have them around makes life a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.