FTSY 1311.06 Fall 2006

stephanie late from mommaaaaa

2006-12-08T09:42:00.000-06:00

Dear stephanie
You are such a dissapointment. I should have let you live with your father. I tried to talk him in to supporting you but he wont have you. Im never going to take you shopping again. And plus, i bought your backpack with my own money. So you shouldnt talk shit. I'll buy you a new one. If it breaks, i promise, i will buy you a new JanSport. I wish you would stay, although i would be saving a lot of money, you need to get educationed. then you can open your shop and make a lot of money to take me on vacation! It would be so much fun! we can go to alaska just like you like it. remeber will tullos? you guys had such a good time in rhet comp and mathmatics! please stay. Your sister needs you to have an education so you can teach her. I love you little baby.

stephanie Late

2006-12-08T09:33:00.000-06:00

Dear mother and father. I am so sorry. I know you were expecting me to finish my college career here at St. Edwards but i am not learning anything. The classes are horrible and the people are too self involved. I have to quit. Im so disscouraged im not even going to try a new college. I want to go into business for myself anyways, why waste all this money on college when i can learn more out in the real world. I appologize again for wasting your money. And i was only in rowing for three weeks for 150 dollars. That was at least spent well even though i could have held it out a bit longer. I just cant take college anymore. The books are too heavy. I dont want to break my backpack. I just bought my new backpack and it was kind of expensive. I want it to last forever! Becuase i really love it. Its the perfect kind of backpack even though its really big, i know i will always have space. But i dont want to take that space up with my college books. This is a good reason to drop out. College is for people who dont know how to spend their money.

late #3

2006-12-08T01:35:00.001-06:00

I was sitting there concentrating on my desk but I decided that I have starred at it before, there is no mystery. I have spent a few nights not doing my work, and starring at my desk. While I was studying the desk area I noticed my orange study lamp. It is kind of hidden behind my computer so I never really look at it. It is a little dusty and not used much. It is silver and orange at the bottom and sits on a stand. A silver thing comes out of the orange part and it comes up into a bigger part which is also orange and lined with silver. There are tiny holes in the top that serve no real purpose. There are about eight of them and they are small and narrow. It is an old fashioned looking lamp. It has a rounded hole where the light is suppose to be coming out from. The light bulb is very tiny but very powerful. It is unbelievably bright and over powers any other light in the room. Inside the warning label is rather large and takes up a lot of space on the inside. The orange lamp just sits there unnoticed the majority of the time but taking the time to sit here and look at it, I think I am going to clean it now.

late #2

2006-12-08T01:35:00.000-06:00

You must have made a mistake in making me write this. Nothing really comes to mind as of what to write about. Maybe if I did this on time, I may have thought of something, although I doubt it. Hmm well, I plan on going home for Christmas. I love going home to see my friends. I miss my friends when at home when I am here in Austin. It seems weird that everyone went to different places and we all have a different group of friends to deal with. I grew up with these people especially since all the schools neighbor each other. You can walk down the street to the elementary school then a little farther to the middle school and then across the street to the high school. With the schools being this close all my friends are people I grew up with, people I have known since I was little. I am excited to go back home and visit with all my people. I think eventually I will feel the same way when I leave my Austin friends. I only have a couple people here who I feel a little upset to leave. I am sure the longer I am here the more people I will miss. I can imagine graduation and when I have to leave here for good that it will be the same situation and I will get excited when I get to see my Austin kids.

2006-12-07T23:29:00.000-06:00

Dear Mom and Dad, this is the longest I've spent debating over how to write this letter. This must be the 100th draft. Because this decision means so much to me, I hope you will consider it wisely. This decision is all about my wants...wishes....and passion. Please focus on the betterment of me as you read through this. What I am about to say to the both of you will upset you very much. I'm sure you are going to protest but my mind is already made up. Please take a second and gather yourself so that you will fully understand the weight of my decision. I have chosen to drop out of college. This is the big news. The reason I have made such a decision is not because anything bad has happened. I am actaully very thankful I came to college. It has opened my eyes and taught me that I should live life for myself, to seek what I want in life. And I have decided that college is not for me. I do not want a life planned out for me. And so I am taking what funds I have and am moving to Europe to discover what I truly am. As you read this, I am on my way via plane to London. I love you both very much, and ya'll have been everything I could have asked more. This is a time when I need to be alone, but your support is much apprecitated. Love Your Son

Dear Matt,
Upon reading your letter, we are at the utmost point of dissapointment. As your parents, we are greatly afraid for your safety and well-being. However, realizing that you are now an adult, and that your life up to now as always been planned, we do see where your desire to leave comes from. Our love for you will not ever end even though our desire to see you succeed overwhelmes us and your decision does not seem much hopeful. We are your parents, we raised you and will not let you go. You have to much potential to put it to waste so please do not this. I know that you will continue to live a life in light of the Lord. We love you like you will never know and our prayers will always be with you. Please continue to write us is our only wish. Love Mom and Dad.

thanksgiving.

2006-12-07T22:57:00.000-06:00

One year over thanksgiving break me and my family took my dogs for a hike in Bastrop, Texas. We spent the whole day hiking through the cedar trees and around the small lake. Anyways, we took a break to go fishing. Let me just say, my and my brothers never catch anything. Well my brother, who was 10 at the time, got a bite and started reeling it in. Somehow my dog got off the leash tho and saw my brothers fish flapping around in the shallow as he was reeling it in. My dog jumped in the lake, got the fish. took off with it, and pulled my brother into the water along with him. So, not only did he not get the fish, he got wet as well. Funny.

late

2006-12-07T20:12:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is always interesting with my family. We went to Alabama this year to see my uncle and his ten kids. Enough said…ten kids. They have to cook like three turkeys and make enough food for five families just to fill these kids up. Well this thanksgiving the twins decided it would be funny to hide the turkeys. I personally was not amused. I don’t even like turkey and we had to wait for the stupid turkeys to be done before we could eat. They decided that they could hide them next door at a friend’s house. I don’t understand how their parents didn’t ask or find it weird that there were three huge extra turkeys, but whatever. People are weird. Anyway they had the whole family going in circles around the house in order to find these turkeys. I thought these people were going to go crazy; they were running around and pacing back and forth interrogating the kids. I think they were too scared to tell them when they were confronted. It wasn’t really funny, I think they were the only ones laughing, but we finally got the turkeys and had a late thanksgiving dinner. Oh, and at the table the twins were informed that they were not allowed to eat any turkey since they like to play games and I think that knocked the grins off their faces.

2006-12-05T22:36:00.000-06:00

dear momma and daddy
ever since i was little i remember yall encouraging me to follow my passions. when i was into cooking yall bought me ingredients. when i was into bird watching yall bought me wood to build bird houses. luckily for yall this passion i wish to follow now requires no money. in fact it will in a way produce money or atleast free up money that yall had previously set aside. i am going to teach first graders to speak english in south america. i know your thinking what about college but lets think this through. in high school you pushed me to work harder and make all a's. it just so happens that i pushed myself so much that i learned everything i needed to know in high school. i speak spanish fluently and know way more about the english language than what is needed to teach first graders. i cant way to help these deprived children! arent you excited for me???

dear hannah
we are so thrilled that you are going to help children in various countries. this will teach you so much more than a school ever can. i cant wait for you to get back and tell us all you've learned. we are sad that you wont be staying at st.eds because you will no longer be getting so many free shirts but the sacrafice is well worth it. even though you complained all those years we pushed you, right now all we have to say to you is..."told you so." you know your so glad to have learned so much in high school you could drop out of college and still be successful. we are so proud of you honey!!!! call us soon.

2006-12-05T17:54:00.000-06:00

Dear Mom,
I was walking down the street the other day and i was ofered 100,000 dollars to give my blood plasma to a medical study. I immediaelty accepted and i walked into the office and donated right there on the spot. They gave me the money and i went on my way. Two weeks later they contacted me and told that i had a super incredibly rare blood type that if donated enough i could save millions of peoples lives as well as have people pay me hunderds of dollars for every donantion. The only problem is that i would have to drop out of college and focus soley on donating blood. I understand that this may be a setback in your eyes but within two weeks i will make enough money to buy my own house and i will be completly able to support myself. please Mom i always wanted to be a hero and now is my chance
love Sean

Dear Sean,
we are so proud of you and your special blood condition we think that it is great that you are trying to save lives and make a living for yourself. I honestly do not see the point in you continiuing a collee education if you are doing so well as a blood donator. I am just so happy that you found your own little nitch in the world and that you are financially set please come home and share the wealth with the rest of your family
love always Mom.

halleluiah

2006-12-05T15:52:00.000-06:00

Mom and Dad,

I would like to start this letter off by saying that I love you. I love you so much for always accepting who I am and the choices I make. You have always been so supportive of me and my hopes and dreams. So I would like to tell you that I am dropping out of school, and I know you will not be angry because you are such loving, supportive parents. Before you freak out and act as if you are not loving and supportive, know that I am buying ya’ll a vacation home in Lake Tahoe for Christmas, and dad, I am getting you that Harley Davidson you have always wanted. I won the lottery…20 million dollars all to me! Crazy, huh? Last week I was freaking out because I did not even have enough money to buy my boyfriend a decent Christmas gift, now I am a millionaire. I know that you say education is the most important, and I should finish up no matter what. But I am hoping that you understand that I do not need school. I plan on moving out to Santa Barbara to buy Lindsay and me a house on the beach. She has been my best friend for sixteen years and we both know that she deserves a nice house and some money after everything she has been through. Dad, you can just stop working because I plan to spoil ya’ll because of everything you have done for me. I hope that you truly understand why I cannot stay in school under such fabulous circumstances. Call me and I will fly ya’ll out here on my private jet to meet for sushi. Love you

-Brooke

Brooke,

Wow, we are shocked. We will always remember you saying that you will buy one lottery ticket in your life and that time you will win. I guess were right. Of course we will always love and support you. But we want you to know that even though you are financially well off, education is always the right choice and we urge you to go back as soon as all this settles down. You will become bored and tired of just spending money but not doing anything to earn it. You must spend your money wisely. Speaking of your money, dad wants a 745i, black on black, instead of a Harley Davidson; I guess he grew out of that phase. And me, your mother, would like a million dollars donated to all the orphans in Africa. But to celebrate we must immediately go on a spa retreat and wine tasting in Napa. We love you!! Don’t forget that we are your parents and have supported you through all your life :)

-Mom and Dad

I quite

2006-12-04T17:05:00.000-06:00

Dear Mom and Dad.
So, you wouldn’t believe the semester that I have had. Everything was running quite smoothly, and of course I was making straight A’s. That wasn’t hard at all considering I was valedictorian and high school was a breeze. Anywho, like I was saying everything was going well until October when the cockroaches began to show up. They weren’t that big of a deal at first, but for some reason or another they just keep coming and growing in size. Studying soon became very difficult as they grew smarter and began to overthrow the St. Edwards community. At this point I gave up on school work all together battling the ever growing cockroaches! There was a small resistance of us that learned to live off of the pre packaged food in Ragsdale. We prepared for battle the other day and I lost a lot of good men out there, but I think they are starting to get the idea that we are not giving up grounds! So the battle has been going on for days and days not and all I can think to do is drop out of school. Really if I’m not gaining an education from this school and I have to fight giant smart cockroaches on a daily basis I really don’t think this is the place for me. Your money is just being wasted for me being here and there is a chance that I could die every day. Okay well I love you guys and will wait for your reply for me to come home!
~Amy

Dear Amy,
Nice try I suppose, but first and foremost you know that we know that you are a compulsive liar and this has got to be one of your worst lies ever. Okay now I would like to remind you that in high school you were most certainly not valedictorian of Lake Travis and you did send us a copy of your grades about a month ago. Amy I know that college can be hard, but trying to make up yet another of the crazy lies really won’t help you at all. Also I’m not sure if you are completely aware of this, but this story is nearly identical to your last story except last time it was grasshoppers, If you really feel you want to come home that’s fine, but last time we let you “drop out” you were home for a week told us you develop an allergy to the cat we had just gotten. Now really I don’t know what you are trying to get at with these wild giant bug stories, but it is really time to just suck it up and take it as it comes. Also the lying really needs to stop I know we have been saying g this since you were ten but you are a college girl now and your lying isn’t getting your anywhere. Well we can’t wait to see you for Christmas but it will not be a percent move home. Love you and have fun fighting cockroaches and other miscellaneous bugs,

~Mom and Dad

Remember The Time. . .

2006-12-04T16:08:00.001-06:00

Dear Mom and Dad,

Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane. Remember the time I almost drowned in a pool? I was okay and we moved on with our lives. Remember the time I fell down a flight of stairs and Mom thought I broke my arm? We spent the rest of the day in the hospital. My arm wasn’t broken. We moved on with our lives. Remember the time in first grade when I was running and suddenly my head hit the pavement and I got a concussion? I’m pretty sure I’ve done this more than once. I woke up at home with ice on my head. The swelling eventually went down. We moved on with our lives. Remember the time I was hospitalized in the Philippines and we thought I would have to get my appendix removed but really it was just dehydration and poor nutrition? I was hooked up to a banana bag for a week. I was allowed to eat solid foods after that week. I haven’t gone back to the Philippines since. We moved on with our lives. Basically what I am trying to say is that what I am about to tell you will not be as traumatic. Remember how you told me that neither of you graduated from college yet you are both doing just fine? See, this is kind of related to that. Sometimes college isn’t for everyone. I know this first semester cost you a lot and hey think of it as me doing you both a favor by not staying in college for next semester. Sound good? Dad, I know I can hear you swearing right now but it’s okay. Just let it all out. Don’t worry, I’ve already withdrawn from the classes I signed up for next semester so you won’t be receiving a bill. I’ll be home soon. When that is? I’m not sure. Where am I now? I don’t know but rest assured that I still have clean underwear.

Your favorite daughter by default,

Nichole

Nichole,

What the hell do you think you are doing? We did not send you all the way to Texas for school just to have you quit and run around on my tab. I am not made out of money Nichole! Who do you think you are? You are such an expensive child and YOU ARE SO UNGRATEFUL! Your dad and I thought you were just trying to be funny but apparently not. Your older brother didn’t graduate from college and neither did we but that is not an excuse for you to be running around somewhere until you feel like figuring out what you want to do with your life. Who do you think you are? Remember how your dad was angry because I let you go to St. Edward’s? Boy do I regret it now. I shouldn’t have let you leave the state. I should have stuck you in that all girls college near our house and made you live at home. YOU ARE SO UNGRATEFUL! Nichole. Seriously. You better be joking. If you are not your ass better be on the next plane back to California do you hear me? You better be reading this not putting it in your purse and forgetting about it like you do with everything else. Call me as soon as you can and give me a straight answer or I’m throwing everything away in your room and giving your TV to your younger brother. You better not think I’m kidding. Why do I have such stupid children? If you don’t come home soon or if you don’t go back to college you better believe that I will hunt you down. I’m serious this time.

- Mom and Dad

2006-12-04T16:08:00.000-06:00

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Now please try not to freak out when I tell you this. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I think it’s what is best for me and my future. Alright, here goes. I have decided to drop out of college. I’m getting a little bored with this whole college thing. I want to move to Hollywood. I want to be an actress, maybe a singer too while I’m at it. It’s not like singers have to have a great voice these days anyways. I know I have a small case of stage fright, but that’s why they have multiple takes for actors. And if I become a singer, I can just lip sync. So you see? I have thought about it. Now before you jump to conclusions on how this is a horrible idea and what am I thinking and how am I going to pay for myself etc., allow me to explain myself. Think back. I have always told you that I want to be famous someday. You never took me seriously, but I was. I was always serious. I was just waiting for someone to come get me and make me famous. But I am starting to realize that that is just not going to happen. I need to do it myself. People need to know the name Gigi Lopez. Or maybe I’ll go by Giselle. Why did you change my name to Gigi anyways? I’ve always wondered about that. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I have decided to drop out, pack up, and leave within a week. I hope you will support my decision. But if not, I may just have to prove you wrong. And we both know I’m good at doing that. I love you Mom and Dad, and I’ll miss you. But don’t you worry, I won’t forget about you guys when I’m famous. Promise.

Love you
Gigi

From my dad
Dear Gigi,

Gigi, are you drugs? Is this a joke? What on earth are you thinking?? You’re getting a great education at St. Edward’s, you have your parents right here in Austin to get you what you need or to let you come home when you need to… What more can you ask for? And you want to be an actress? When have you ever acted? And good God… a singer of all things! Gigi, you come home ASAP. We need to discuss this. You are not moving to Hollywood. I wont allow it.

From my mom
Dear Gigi,

I know this is a hard time, you’re still in a transition phase right now. But please try to be rational. You’re going to give your father a heart attack for God’s sake. Where did this idea come from anyway? You’ve been watching TV haven’t you? I told you not to, it’s a bunch of crap on there is what it is. Just come home and we can spend some time together. Maybe you and I can take a trip to California. Actually come to think of it, it wouldn’t be so bad to move to California. Hmm… Oh, who am I kidding. Gigi take me with you! I don’t like it here either!

Love
Mom and Dad

2006-12-04T15:39:00.000-06:00

Mom,

I am wasting away. I will never be this age again and I will never have some of the opportunities that I have at this point in my life. I want to take this time to explore, travel, and just make life experiences. Yes, college is often labeled as a great life experience, but it is one that I can come back to later in life. Right now, I need to take advantage of being young and having so much more energy and momentum than I will have in ten, even five years from now. I am concerned about income, but I can begin work as a flight attendant maybe, or perhaps I can deliver organs. That way, my traveling will be included in my work. Both jobs may require some sort of class, but I believe these classes will be much shorter than even one year of college. I will be living the life that I want to live, and I won’t let fear of becoming nothing when I am older stand in my way. You even have admitted yourself that you chose the completely wrong profession and I have seen you miserable every day you go to work. What if I make a big mistake like this one? I mean, in other countries they even make students take at least a year off after graduating high school so they can return to college with life experiences, and perhaps as these students work and travel on their year or more off, when they return to college they appreciate the opportunity to learn that much more. I know what you will say, but you can not change my mind.

Love always,
Nicole

P.S. I will just get my diabetic medications in Mexico, or a lot of my friend’s parents have diabetes. I will figure it out.

Nicole,

You will lose your scholarship. You will not be able to get your medications. And getting them in Mexico or from other diabetics is VERY illegal. You can NOT do that. I will cut you off from my money, meaning no phone, no car insurance, and I will take the car back. You do not have the skills to find a reasonable profession without any schooling and the only way you can get insurance for your diabetes is if you work specific jobs such as Starbucks and Whole Foods, and neither of these pay for travel. You are too smart to make such a choice, just pull through. If college is too hard, take less hours, we can get through this. And then you can pick a profession of your choice and make enough money to live comfortably and travel on your own time. I can not let you do this, you will not do this. You know I will always be here to help you through anything and I will support you through college. We need to talk. Take a weekend to come home.

Love,
Mom

My Bad

2006-12-04T15:35:00.000-06:00

Hey mom and pops,
How is everything workin out back home? I hope you guys are payin the bills and all that stuff aight cause I know how hard that can be. You know you have a son with bills to pay too! Thats wicked crazy, isn't it? One day I am in diapers and the next day I'm having to sell body parts for some extra cash! Yeah, so I am gonna need some money to pay me some of my bills. I thought that since I am a adult now, that we should be able to communicate on a more direct level. Yeah so I like, didn't pass too many of my classes this semester. By not passing too many of my classes this semester, I mean that I didn't pass any of my classes this semester. But all of the courses that I took were all kinds of mad hard! The professors were totally jumpin me about stuff I didn't do, and givin me no time to do nothin. So as a responsive adult, I have made a final solution to these problems of mine. I am going to drop out of college! I know that this might come down pretty hard on you guys, but I have been thinkin for like a couple of hours now how much cooler it would be if I didn't have to wake up for anything anymore. Right? I was just imagining what I would be able to do if I didn't have to hear about other people doin homework and stuff. Okay well, I hope that you guys send me some money soon cause I am all kinds of hungry. Bye!
Always with Love,
Steven Kliewer

Dearest Son of ours' that may die very very soon,
This sudden news has come as quite a shock to your father and I. I thought it only appropriate to inform you that we are going to disown you and sell all of your personal possessions here at the house in a grand ol' yard sale. This is so that you will now have the finances with which to pay off your bills, you do understand. The disowning will come only after you see to these unpaid bills, of course. I also find it only necessary to tell you that the money we will make upon selling you to a major international medical research hospital will cover all expenses that we have been forced to pay for you up until this point. There is, however, one way to get out of this oh so complicated situation Steven. Now, I am not a miracle worker here, ok, so I do not know if you will be ready for this, but here it goes. YOU WILL STAY IN COLLEGE IF IT IT MEANS MOVING INTO YOUR DORM MYSELF AND ATTENDING CLASS WITH YOU EVERYDAY IN ORDER TO INSURE THIS. Actually, this is your only option for further survival. If you do not comply, it will not be my fault if Lassie JR. is mysteriously informed about your old transformers' whereabouts in the backyard. Alright son! I know you will do the right thing!
Love Mommies and Daddums

2006-12-04T15:21:00.000-06:00

Mommy, Daddy, I have some news, but you have to promise not to get mad or freak out or anything, but, I’m engaged!!! Can you believe it, we just met last week at Taco Cabana, but we love each other and will be together forever!! His name is Michael, and he’s going to be a movie star, so obviously we have to move to LA, but don’t worry, he’s so talented and will going to be famous some day soon. But since we’re moving to LA, I’ll obviously need to take a break from school for a while, but that’s okay because once we’re there he’ll be making loads of money, and I can get a job as a waitress some where for a while, but I was kind of hoping you guys could help us pay for an apartment for a few months, preferably in the heart of the city. Oh, and the wedding is going to be on Christmas day, I’m hoping it’ll snow, wouldn’t that be pretty? And don’t worry, you’ll love Michael, he’s so funny! So we better start planning fast. I already found the wedding dress I want, which is good because that’s the most important part, so it’s an Oscar de la Renta cup cake style dress, it’s GORGEOUS, and Daddy I know it’ll be kind of expensive, but you’ll only have to buy me one, ever, so I’m sure you won’t mind. we can take care of the rest when I’m done with finals, I’m so excited I won’t be dealing with those again for a while, yay! I know, I know, you’re worried what my future will be without a college degree, but I’ll go back to school eventually, probably, but with Michael’s income we’ll be so rich it won’t even matter. So we have to call everyone and tell them the good news, make sure they keep their calendar open for the big day! And then for the honeymoon we were thinking Italy, and since neither of us have a back to school date to worry about we can stay for a few weeks. Can you imagine how beautiful Rome will be?! I’m so excited, I finally have a valid excuse to stay in all the fancy hotel’s honeymoon suites with their heart-shaped beds! and don’t worry about that, we’ll be responsible. So, you guys should probably buy our plane tickets soon, they might get pricier as it gets closer to Christmas. Ok, calm down, I know you’re probably a little startled, your little girl is growing up so fast, but be excited for me! Dropping out of school for a while isn’t THAT big of a deal, plus, I’ll always have you guys to fall back on right? Don’t worry about a thing. See you in a few days!

Guess what?

2006-12-04T10:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Mum and Pops,
Hey! Have you guys ever read Kurt Vonnegut? I've read Kurt Vonnegut, OH have I read Kurt Vonnegut. There was this passage in it that had me rolling all around the cafe. It went something like this: a man needed to hide from the police and did so in the house of a woman he knew. When he got there the woman went to go get to go get some of her husband’s clothes for him and he anxiously stripped naked. However, before she could return with the clothing the cops knocked at the door and he was forced to run and hide in the rafters. He climbed up but his oversized testicles hung in full view. The cop walked in and asked where the man was. He then spotted the testicles and asked what they were. The woman said that they were Chinese-temple bells; he believed her and said, "Oh? I've always wanted to here Chinese-temple bells. He gave them a whack with his billy club but they didn't make a sound, so he hit them again, only a lot harder. This time the man shrieked from the rafters, “TING-A-LING YOU SON OF A BITCH."
Hahahahaha oh man, let me tell you guys, I've never laughed harder while reading a book. I tried showing it to the guy sitting next to me, only he couldn't understand because he didn't speak English. Oh yeah, that brings me to my next point, I left college and am now a bona fide European Vagabond. Well, you can write back at this address, I'll be in Paris for awhile. Love you guys.

You're one of a kind headache,
-Kyle

Dear soon-to-be-dead son,
You best be hoping this entire letter is a joke. Little do you know you had an older brother, he did the same thing. Want to know why you've never heard of him? Because we killed him for doing it. You better drag your ass back to the states and back to school starting next semester or have changed your last name. What made you think you could just get up and leave? Why did you...? Who do you...? What the...?
Hah! You're right, it did feel good to play that traditional parent role. It was even kind of fun. It makes me almost wish you would have just got up and left. I immediately regret writing that. Well, hope you're having a fantastic time in Europe. Keep yourself safe and don't have too many girls. Your mom just hit me. Okay, your brothers are making trouble again, we'll talk to you soon.
Love,
-Dad and Mom

2006-12-04T09:46:00.000-06:00

Mom and Dad,

I am sorry, but I can not take this anymore. I am pregnant as you already know, not allowed to play soccer, which is why I came here, got left by my boyfriend, in the middle of a pregnancy I might add, and I am being swamped with homework that I can barely keep up with on top of all the doctors and counselors everyone is having me see. I am only 18 and can only take so much. I want to drop out of school at least for a little while until I can get my stuff together. I am sorry to disappoint you I know you only real dreams for me where to prosper in school. I will come back, I want to make something of myself, but first I think I need to find myself. I love you and I hope you understand. This whole process is very overwhelming. I have had trouble staying focused nearly the whole semester and I would like to blame my pregnancy on that. I have had trouble getting a couple things in on time I am getting so worn down emotionally, physically, and mentally. School should not be this hard. Not everyone should have to go through what I am going through. I find it unfair and unjust that all these people are getting better grades because they have hardly anything else to deal with. I want to be like that, worry free. So please support me on this decision to drop out. I love you and I hope you understand how important this is too me.

Love,
Christine

Christine,

You know we love you, and are here for you no matter what you decide to do. You are so far along in your pregnancy that you have to stay in the Austin area anyways for your doctors. School is the only thing that you should be focusing on. If you feel that it will make you crazy, you can come home for a little while, but I urge the fact that you will go back to school. You need to get an education so you can support yourself and maybe even a kid if that is what you decide to you want. Please do not take any of this personal I just want what is best for you. Coming home is an option for the time being, but that is not going to be the answer to fix your problems. We cannot support you for the rest of your life. We are going to die eventually and you will have to take care of yourself. There are going to be bills and expenses that you have never had to pay before, you have it financially easy. I think you should take into consideration the amount of work it would be for you not to be in school before you completely drop out. You will need to get a job to start helping out with the bills and then if you decide to keep this child, it will be yours. You will be paying the insurance for it and although we are here to help out, we are not going to be the soul providers. You need to get a good education and be successful in order to help out yourself and your family.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad

2006-12-04T09:36:00.000-06:00

Dear Mom and Dad,
I am writing to you today to let you know that college is simply not for me. I don't like it. Its hard and long (jeeze guy mind out of the gutter) and its cold right now. I think me and my friend Sean are moving to Jamaica to be rostas. Its always warm there, and there is a beach and a jungle that we can live in free of charge so that will be good. Back to the dropping out thing. School sucks with all the work and the confusing hoops you have to jump through and the early mornings. If you would allow it, I would like to stay here at school with all my friends, I just don't want to school anymore. I'm thinking about winning the lottery so that I will have enough money to live. Its a long shot, but if it works, then I will be able to do whatever I want and not even go to school. Think about it, if i have money and a lot of time on my hands to ponder things than at least I can be a senator or representative if I decide I want to work 2 to six years at a time. If that doesn't work then I'll just be the governor so I don't have to pay for anything. Its a good game plan I know. Let me know which idea you like better, the rosta, or the senator.

Love,
Adam

Dear Mom and Dad,
Maybe you should sit down for this. I have spent several of minutes of contemplation on the john, and I have decided that maybe college isn’t for me. I don’t like doing work, I’m not very good at any of it, and I despise waking up early with a passion. There are certain aspects I enjoy though. I like the parties, all of the good looking girls who strut around campus like they are made of gold, and all of the opportunities to make fun of authority figures. It’s just that I cant stand all the work. My decision is this: I will continue to live with my friends in this college town, and continue to go to the parties, and continue to laugh at all the police who think that going 5 mph over the speed limit is a felony, but I will discontinue my time here in the classroom.

Sincerely,
Adam

Week 12

2006-12-04T09:20:00.000-06:00

The blog for this week is to write a letter to your parents telling them you are dropping out of college. The idea is to make it creative. Write their response to you as well. Try to make each of them around 250 words. For the comments, write about what works for the letters creatively or what might be used to make a whole story.

2006-11-29T19:20:00.000-06:00

Well this Thanksgiving was definitely different than any other one my family has had. Normally, my grandmother guilt trips my dad into going to Camp Penniel with the rest of the fam, where the family fun and bonding on Thanksgiving day includes creating teams and then doing activities like shooting cans with guns while lying on mattresses, shooting archery, etc, trying to get the most points to win a prize. This year my family and another rented a catamaran and we sailed around Belize. The first day, we bought provisions (food) to last for about two days, assuming some of the small islands would have markets. It turns out most of the islands were completely deserted. We had to catch fish for dinner one night and eat roman noodles one morning for breakfast. Two days after Thanksgiving, I went hiking in a jungle. First there was lots of mud, my shoes were canvas and thorns kept poking through them, fire ants bit my ankles, a bug flew up my nose, but I did see some monkeys. Our guide went and got a piece of antidotal tree bark that I wet in the lake to stop the ant bites from itching. He then pointed out plants that healed kidney problems, high blood pressure, and gonorrhea (yeah, drink the juice from its tree bark for 10 days and your healed). On our catamaran, I became thankful for flushing toilets (on the boat to flush you had to pump this thing up and down, pump in water, and pump it empty again).

thanksgiver

2006-11-28T14:03:00.000-06:00

Thangiving is a peculiar time for me and my family. First of all, there is only three of us. My mom, my sister, and myself. It has been this way for the past 3 years. Sometimes neighbors come over or my grandmas which is cool and since i live in an adult day care we occasionally have a person or two dining with us. When November comes around, Martha Stewart is on the tele all day and i'm spending hours on the internet looking for recipes and planning out our menu. Mom and i decide which recipes work best and plan out a table setting. This is all good and fun except for one thing: we are not cooks... AT ALL. We end up opening cans of green beans and corn, making apple cider from instant cider bags and buy pumpkin pies from HEB. This is actually all right with me because its pretty funny to look back on our efforts and see what was the result. This year though, this year was different. My sister peeled the potatoes, i made real live pumpkin bread, my mom made deviled eggs and fruit salad (my favorite). Yes it is true we had our canned green beans BUT! we added cream of mushroom soup and all the fixings for green bean casserole which i had for the first time. Over all, this thanksgiving was the best thanksgiving feast that i can remember!

2006-11-28T11:51:00.000-06:00

Oh, Thanksgiving...so much to be thankful for. Friends, family, turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, pie, and my grandmother's butterhorn rolls. But most of all I am thankful for my sister. Since having a baby and taking up a full time job for the past two years, my sister has missed every major holiday with our family in Austin. Well this year, I got a call from her Thanksgiving morning telling me she was driving up and would be there in about an hour. Minutes before she arrived, I pulled my mom outside and told her I had a surprise. I'm not good with coming up with excuses so my mom assumed the worst due to my awkward behavior while waiting for my sister to pull up. "Is it bad?" she asked. "I don't know, see for yourself," I said as my sister pulled up. Seeing as she was practically moved to tears, I knew my mom was most thankful for my sister being there.
I was thankful she was there also because not only is she my sister, but my best friend. Until I came to college, we were inseperable. Of course, there were times when I wanted to strangle her, but I adored her just the same. She is the one person I can both love or hate more than anyone else. For example...Let's take a look at how I spent my Thanksgiving. My sister arrived, which made my day. We then ate outside in the gorgeous weather. I ate two full plates of amazing food. After the meal, my cousin, sister and I decided to get some Starbucks and check out my dorm room since neither of them had seen it. While we're driving my sister begins to complain that a piece of glass stuck in her finger from breaking a glass while bartending the previous night, is starting to hurt. She then has the brilliant idea of going to the emergency room to get it out. My cousin and I agreed. How long could it take to get a piece of glass out of a finger? Yeah...three hours to be exact. While we were there, one man came in with his hand sliced, and another woman with a sliced finger, you know, the typical Thanksgiving day emergencies. "We've had a lot of those today." I guess some people are thankful for the emergency room being open on Thanksgiving. I finally went in to check on my sister after a couple hours had gone by. I asked her why it was taking so long and she told me the doctors don't care. Literally. When my sister first went in, she asked the nurse, "Sorry about this. I'm sure there's actual emergencies and I just have glass in my finger." The nurse replied with, "Oh, it's fine. There are no real emergencies." Good to know?
My sister then proceeded to tell me what happened. She said the doctor came in and said, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to amputate your finger." My sister, being my sister, of course replied with, "You gotta be fucking kidding me! No, you are not cutting off my finger." The doctor simply laughed and said, "Oh, I can't joke with you." Let's just say she didn't find it funny. Although, I did. Only because my cousin and I had predicted her coming out with no finger. Anyway, she ended up getting the glass out. And it turned out to be a good thing we went because the doctor said it was in pretty deep and if she hadn't come in that day, it would have gotten in her blood stream.
By the time we got back to my grandparents' house, everyone had already had dessert. Not only that, they roasted marshmallows outside, which I had been talking about doing that night for weeks. All in all, it was still a good thanksgiving. Even though she made us sit in that hospital waiting room for hours, I'm thankful that my sister was able to come spend Thanksgiving with us.

Turkey yay

2006-11-27T16:59:00.000-06:00

Okay so everyone knows what turkey does to you right??? Some say its a wives tale and others say its because your just eating a big meal, I think its simply because we think if we eat turkey then we will become very sleepy. Usually after I have my turkey day feast I pass out and am in sleepy town for the rest of the night!! So just in case yall didnt know, I work at best buy and of course just like any other retail store we opened at like 5 in the morning on "black friday" ie the day after thanks giving and of course I had the morning shift wich started at 3:30 yes in the am. Anywho, my plan was not to go to sleep til some ungodly hour wednesday and then wake up early thursday pass out from turkey and be able to get a full 8 hrs of sleep befor I got up at 2:30 to get ready for work. Oh how plans of mice and men go astray....my alarm clock that I set for thursday morning of course did not go off and I ended up waking up at like 2 in the afternoon right as the turkey was coming out of the oven....so I was hoping that perhaps the turkey would still make me sleepy oiy it seemed to take the opposite effect i tried laying down multiple times that day and I was just not tired. Finally I got to sleep that night around midnight to only get 2.5 hrs of sleep and have to go to work in this delirous state of mind. Not good when you are trying to get people to buy accesories and service plans. Befor the day was done with I'm pretty sure I had offended a few customers with my mindless blather and ended up getting sent home an hour early. It was basically the funest day I have had in a while because there is nothing more funny than some one asking "Oh does it run on a memory chip" when your trained to know alot about cameras and you are in some whacky state of sleepless ness...I dunno guess you had to be there!

Explosions in the... Freezer

2006-11-27T16:55:00.000-06:00

so my thanksgiving was great. i got to hang out with my dad's family that i am just starting to get to know and they are so much more fun than the rest of my family, shhh. my two uncles, aunt, two cousins, two second cousins, and two third cousins showed me all the great bars in town, which coming from louisiana, aren't so great, but that's where i'm from and i love it.

ok so a story? we all got together at my aunt's house like we always do. beds were set up around the house for the extra eight people staying there (adding to six people already living there). one of the extra eight people included my grandma. she is great, but she does have some... issues. she has a weird tick where she is inclined to move everything from the fridge to the freezer and vice versa. so the night before Thanksgiving Day, we were all asleep when we heard an explosion. nearly everyone, with the exception of my grandma and my aunt, woke up and went to the kitchen where it had come from. my grandma had put some cokes and beers in the freezer and they all exploded. Not to mention ice creams and other freezer items were slowly melting in the fridge. so here's our community decision, we are getting pad locks for the fridge and freezer next year, seriously.

young love

2006-11-27T16:54:00.000-06:00

My sister has had quite a few boy friends. When I was in junior high she was in high school, so I got to witness the coming and going of numerous boy friends. Bobby was my favorite (they actually just broke up after five years about two months ago…so sad L) Anyways, one thanksgiving when I was in 8th grade and my sister was a senior in high school some of my extended family came over for dinner when we lived in California. And so did Bobby. They had been together about year but had recently had a falling out because my sister had too much of a “flirty” personality. Things were still kind of awkward between them and they weren’t totally together but he came to dinner anyways. We were all sitting down eating and the door bell rang. Bobby being the gentleman he is immediately got up and offered to answer the door. Surprisingly and ironically enough, my sister’s ex, whom she had recently been “too” flirty with, was at the door with flowers. He heard Beri and Bobby had broken up and had come to win her back. I was enthralled in my sweet potatoes and honey-glazed ham (all my favorite) but I will never forget the look on Beri’s face when Bobby walked back to the table and said, “look who’s decided to join us for dinner”.

Dictionaries can be used for fun?

2006-11-27T16:31:00.000-06:00

My thanksgiving was full of fun with thirty five people how could it not be? My mom's cousin Nancy hosted us at her beautiful ranch on a small creek in dripping springs. She did not only host her cousins but her cousins cousins and their children and spouses. This was a blast because we had a plethora of food, four turkey's anyone? Needless to say we had some yummy leftovers. My favorite part of my family's thanksgiving tradition is playing Dictionary. If you have never heard of this game let me explain to why it is the perfect game to play after you have stuffed your face with the yummiest of thankgiving dinners. This game does not involve your body or moving around in any way. The object of Dictionary is to make up the most convincing fake definition in the group. One person picks a word that nobody in the group knows the meaning of and everyone writes a fake definition. Some are convincing and some are just plain silly. For example this year one of the words chosen was "Drumlin" and for the "definition" my 12 year old sister wrote "The nickname a band gives to their paranoid drummer." Another memorable word was "Thron" in which my six year old cousin defined as "A thong". Though I dont remember any definitions written by people over the age of 12, these two definitions that the girls wrote show just how silly this game can be... This game went on for a while on Thanksgiving night because my family likes to laugh.

home for thanksgiving

2006-11-27T16:06:00.000-06:00

I realized when I got back to my dorm room yesterday that I am really thankful that I got to fly home for Thanksgiving. I knew I was home as soon as the plane was landing in LAX and I could clearly see the division between the clean air and the thick smog that hovers over Los Angeles which sounds disgusting and really bad for you but is what reminds me of home the most. My younger brother was waiting for me in baggage claim and my dad was waiting outside in the car. I missed my younger brother a lot. Well, mostly his random comments. We’re two years apart so we always laugh/fight over the weirdest things. The first thing he said to me was, “Dad was rushing me because he thought we were going to be late to pick you up then I decided to surprise him: when he turned on the car there was no gas. The little light was on. Haha the joke is on him!”

I am also really thankful for other things like eating Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family and seeing my doggies. My family has three dogs. Two live outside and we have a little puppy that lives in the house. The puppy was so glad to see me that he chased me around the house. I played with him so much that I forgot I am allergic to dog hair/all animals with fur. The puppy and I were sitting on the couch and I began to scratch my eye right after I pet him. Big mistake. My eye got really red and swollen. The puppy was really upset because I had to stop playing with him and my mom put him in the upstairs hallway and put his little gate up. He wouldn’t play with me the rest of the day even after I gave him a piece of turkey.

my thanksgiving

2006-11-27T14:33:00.000-06:00

Before I went home for thanksgiving, I made up my mind to catch up on my sleep as much as i could. One night, we came home from dinner at 7 and weren't doing anything special, and I was feeling a little sleepy, so I decided I would go take a nap. Well, I ended up not waking up until 11 the next morning. I was quite proud of myself for going to bed so early, even though I didn't mean to. Normally, at school, I will not go to bed before two in the morning most nights. i noticed my family started acting a little suspicious around me, but i thought maybe I was imagining things. finally my sister approached me. She told me that the whole family thought I was depressed because I slept so long. I tried to convince her that I am not in fact depressed at all, then she asked me if I was hungover. I told her I wasn’t hungover either, but she still seemed a little suspicious. She said if I need to talk to her about anything, she’s here for me. I thanked her and asked her to leave me alone. Then I thought for a minute. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my family thought I was depressed. But I realized that is a very evil thought to think, and I am a very bad person to think it. We had our thanksgiving meal which was quite scrumptious; we had lamb instead of turkey because my family doesn’t like to be conventional, I didn’t eat it but I’m sure it was yummy. I did have a lot of cheesecake, though. Mmmm cheesecake. Anyway, after dinner, we said what we are thankful for as we ate our cheesecake and pumpkin pie. yum. After that, my mom left for a few minutes and came back with a handful of tiny pieces of paper. She told my sister to take a number. My sister gave her a dirty look and told her to stop being weird. I was about to reach for her hand, but of course then my sister wanted to play. She took a number, then me, then the rest of us. The numbers corresponded with the gifts we were to receive. I was not very happy to see that my sister received an enormous makeup case, and I received a bath ball and two chocolates. Let me rephrase that. I was pissed off, it wasn’t fair she didn’t even want to play! I said so, but my dad just said “oh, Marsha Marsha Marsha!!” like he always does when I’m jealous of my sisters. I hate when he does that. But I didn’t want her stupid makeup case anyway. Ok, I got a little off-topic I see. But you see everything comes together. I am thankful that my family is a little “out there,” and that they care about me enough to think that I might be depressed. It’s touching really. And I am VERY thankful for cheesecake.

Grandparents

2006-11-27T12:51:00.000-06:00

Honestly my thanksgiving was relatively uneventful. I mean there were relatives there but there were very few events to be mentioned. My granparents came to my house for thankgiving so it was five of us, me, kelsey( my sis), Nick (my bro, mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma. That was it. As was to be expected there was way more fun than could be eaten by the amount of people present in the house. My mom made like 3 pies for 7 people thats ludicrious. But the intresting part of my thanksgiving meal was my Grandparents and how they relly didn't care about what other people thought of them. Our family started talking about how the city of Houston was going down. My Grandpa statred talking about how his family in Cleveland moved to a new neighbourhood when black people started moving into his. He was saying thats just how it was in those days, " when black people moved in you just got up and left." At first i thought this was incredibly racist and i couldn't believe my Grandpa took part in htis. Then i realized he was just a little kid when this happened and he really did not have that much to do with it. But even still it was just a sign about how different things had become since way back then. My next door neighbors are black and i have grown up with tons of black kids. So i just appreciated how Grandpa decided he would share what happened to him whne he was little regaurdless of what his judgemental grandchildren thought of him. I thought this was funny but i can see how some pepole might not agree with finding humor in this.

Turkey Day Fun

2006-11-27T11:12:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is a time where we should think about and reflect upon the things in our life that nuture our soul. This is why I would like to tell whoever is lucky enough to read this the little adventure that my brother and I had. I hadn't seen my younger brother in quite a while and I have to admit it was rather touching to see him after three months of being away from him. He had grown a little and it seemed as though he was becoming more outgoing. I was really proud of him and I found myself being thankful for him. I realize now how important our growing up together was because I was able to teach him about everything I had gone through. For example I explained to him about preparing oatmeal and how important it is to have the right mixture of milk and oatmeal, and the amount of time in the microwave is vital. Things like this the real world never tells you and I'm glad I could be a big brother and teach him the lessons of the world.
Anyways, what I'm really trying to get at is that my brother is on his middle school soccer team. And so during the break I told him we needed to go kick the soccer ball around together at my high school practice field. It's a well-kept field and is quite accessible because we live close to it. One afternoon we decide to go up there. Since the field is only about a 3/4 mile we chose to walk up there because the weather was glorious. The sun was shining brillantly and the wind felt like opening up a fridgerator on a hot summer day. So we pack our cleats and put on our walking shoes and venture out into the wild streets. After 15 to 20 minutes of walking and carrying a ball I was ready to stretch my legs a little. So we walk up to the field and I tell my brother we have to climb over this fence that's about 6 feet tall. And my brother says,"I can't climb fences."

2006-11-27T09:52:00.000-06:00

even though this does not have to be one hundred percent historical i'm not good with imagination so real history is what your stuck with. my little cousin eleanor (we call her ellie) was staying at my house with her other three sisters during thanksgiving so their parents could care for their new baby brother. (he was born like a month ago but he was a few months per-mature so he just left the hospital monday) and yes if your counting thats five kids. so anyways back to my "funny" story and when im trying to be funny it never happens so get ready for this historical non-funny story. so my little cousin came up to me friday after lunch and grabbed my hand, lead my up the stairs, and asked me if i would stay up there while she took her nap. i of course jumped at the oppurtinity to take a nap and said sure. so i fall asleep for like 30 minutes and when i wake up she is curled up right next to me with her arm over my waist. it was the cutest thing ever! and when i tried to slowly get out of bed and go back downstairs she woke up with the saddest, tired face i have ever seen and her big eyes were like "you're not goin to leave me are u?" it was soooooo adorable ok...ur laughing so hard right now arent u? no...ya me neither but it truly was cute!

Ohhh Snap, My turkey Day

2006-11-27T09:18:00.000-06:00

I am a Yankee, plain and simple. I like to say "you guys" instead of "y'all", I eat gravy maybe twice a year, and my winter means snow, not a 40 degree "cold front." I have become rather accustom to the culture down here. For instance, I am a big fan of chicken fried steak, and I have always liked Country Music, but one Yankee aspect of life that I will not budge on, is my turkey. My mother makes probably the best turkey west of Martha Stewart. She brines it with some salty mixture that makes the white meat so tender you can cut the leftovers with a fork, and the skin tasted like the greatest culinary invention known to mankind. Well, I didn't go home for thanksgiving this year, so I got a taste of straight up southern inventions. The turkey was fried, and was ok, but not nearly as good as mom's, oh well, I still ate enough to feed a small country. The most interesting part of dinner was actually the side dishes. I have never in my life seen such odd creations at a "gourmet meal." There was pounds of velveeta, marshmallows, jelly, lard, an oyster casserole (wtf?), and more hamburger helper than I care to say. I felt like I was in a trailer park, eating at a picnic table, except I was eating at a REALLY nice house (my great Aunt and Uncle's) and eating off of fine china that was fitted more for caviar and escargot, than Betty Crocker boxed stuffing. I figured the dessert would save the day, but this was not the case. Did you know that cool whip can be consumed in solid, liquid, and aqueous form? Well it can, and all were present at the dessert table. Even the pumpkin pie, was not made fresh, but picked up from the local Wal-Mart. All of this being said, I am not trying to be funny. This is all the truth, and I simply told it. This is my family. Oh and after dinner we went huntin' and I shot A LOT of "varmint." If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was with a bunch of rednecks.

Thanksgiving, yo.

2006-11-26T20:43:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, I suffered a rather unwanted experience two Thanksgiving's ago. My sister was dating an older guy, and this dude was not popular around the Tullos household. Little to my parent's knowledge, but much to mine, this guy was a small-time drug dealer, one of those assholes that graduated a year ago but still sells dimebags to high school kids. Anyways, my sister was borrowing his car for the holidays because he had gone to see his grandparents, and she and I were filling it up with gas, then going to our house to visit awkwardly with family members and eat the usual Thanksgiving dinner. My sister, Lauren, was outside pumping gas, while I was inside, starving. I was going to eat dinner soon, but I couldn't go much longer without a snack. So I dug around in the compartment between the two front seats, and found a zip-lock bag that held something that resembled crunched up nuts or popcorn or something. I didn't care, I went in for a handful. It didn't taste great, but it didn't taste bad either. I decided that would hold me off until dinner, but I couldn't resist asking my sister what it was when she returned to the driver's seat. She gasped, put her hand to her open mouth, and stared at me, wide-eyed. Then she began to laugh nervously. She then informed me they were mushrooms that her boyfriend had planned to sell when he returned from his grandparents'.

So I spent my Thanksgiving dinner laying with Eminem in my front yard, which had turned a mellow orange. We talked about how the trees looked like giant stalks of broccolli that could eat us, but wouldn't, because they were our friends. I eventually made it inside my living room, which would occasionally spin and move like a roller coaster. My grandmother asked me what was wrong, and I simply told her: Enchiladas, please. I played checkers with a my cat Oliver, who informed me that for felines, it only cost $9.99 to go to the moon. I was thoroughly impressed. I tried to talk to my Uncle Marshall and see how my cousins were doing, but he kept doing multiple backflips and bursting into flames. I thought maybe eating a little bit of food would calm my troubled mind, but the turkey kept reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, only to ask for tips afterwards! There was no way I was giving a tip to a singing turkey. My mom kept proposing that maybe we should go to the hospital, but I firmly told her that, due to my legs turning into spoons, the doctors would not accept me. I eventually fell into a deep sleep, with Kermit the Frog tucking me in, and The Brady Bunch singing me a bedtime lullabye.

If any of you have never experienced Thanksgiving under the unwanted influence of hallucinogens, I definitely suggest it.

I saw the play, Yes I did.

2006-11-26T20:11:00.000-06:00

Overall, I liked the play a lot, I liked the main theme of being persistent through troublesome times and fighting for what you believe in. I was impressed right from the beginning; I walked in and some of the actors and actoresses were sitting at tables reading, talking, etc., carrying on as their characters even before the audience was complete. I was expecting to walk in and see a normal theatre, like the one I saw all my high school plays at, but I was surprised to see the stage in the very center, surrounded by seats, almost like a coliseum. There was a main stage, and 4 smaller stages placed above and around the audience, so to fully understand the show, one had to keep twisting their neck. It was different; very new to me. Anywho, I think something that was authentically Muslim in the play was how important the wife's scarf was to her, and how she used it to protect the Quaran. Even those who know very little about Muslims, including myself, know that a Muslim woman's shawl is very important to her. The play also highlights the importance of, and the amount of, praying that is done as an active Muslim. The characters in the play represent people who are more devoted to something than I have ever been. Good stuff, good stuff.

It was a little long, though, I think you can all agree with me on that.

The Play

2006-11-20T16:03:00.000-06:00

So, I never got to see the play....can you beleive it. It's really hard sometimes when you work as much as I do. If they are planning on doing something like this next year I highly suggest the students be made aware of the dates at least a month in advaced because I was genuinly interested and I did really want to see it. Anywho, since I did not see it however I feel like I should write something even though it is a week late. My impression of the play (according to what I have heard from other people of course) is there was the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wonder if the preformance varied much from night to night because there was such a mix of emotion in our student body towards it. Some people I talked to said it was absolutly dreadful. They explained to me how they usually totally got into musicals, but this one was hard to follow and just not entertaining at all. Now it seemed to me that all of those people had gone on either the first wednesday or thursday night. Peopl who had gone early in the week told me they absolutly loved it. That it was very interesting and they would love to go see it again. Strange much?? I do not know there does seem to be one general consensus however. Apparently there was a girl with red hair in the play and she was most certainly the ugly! Everyone I talked to mentioned her melladramatisim and how it was quite a distraction to the play overall. I find that quite humerous and wish I could have been there to see it. Anywho this is my take on the play and hopefully the blog will grant me credit of some sort! :)

Week 11 Entries, due 27 November

2006-11-17T08:50:00.000-06:00

After the Thanksgiving break, you should have plenty of stories about things that you are thankful for, or wish that you could be thankful for. For this entry, give us an example of your thankfulness, and try to make it as funny as possible. For some tips on how to do this, check out this primer (which is pronounced "PRIH-mer," not "PRAH-ee-mer" as you heard in lecture) at the Uncyclopedia. Humor is a tricky thing, but you are all clever people and I trust you'd rather have a good time trying to make us laugh, than have a routine time telling us the same tired Thanksgiving story your teachers have heard for many years now.

By the way, no one says your story has to be based in historical truth...

2006-11-16T13:30:00.000-06:00

I saw the play last night and it was very interesting. I learned a few new things about the religion but I also didn’t understand a lot. I thought the guy falling out of faith in America was interesting it must be hard to keep such a demanding religion in America where not many people support the same thing. I would think that fasting would be very hard while people around him did not have to. I also found the white guy interesting. His interest was really refreshing and helped out the other guy. At the same time his dreams showed repressed anger towards Muslims and I think by following this faith he feels that the repression is removed. I saw a movie about the hajj in my world religions class and there was only like two white people in the whole thing. There are not many white people in the Muslim community. It is suppose to be really wide spreading but, I don’t think that it is all that accepted by the white race community. So I found that nice to see. I did not understand why the book and what they had to say was so oppressed on the other hand.

2006-11-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

Umm, yeah I’m late. My favorite scene in the play was the dream sequence where the college students go into the war zone. The Islamic student is captured and his friend, an American, maybe Texan? is supposed to kill him; it showed that even though what the boys thought they knew about each other and about each others’ cultures they were still governed by their governments. While this was all taking place the lighting throughout the scene was dreamlike and trippy, going from light to dark. There were also two soldiers whose costumes I liked, except according to my friend, their guns were not of the right time period, but I didn’t notice. Another aspect I thought was interesting was the Islamic characters wore normal, western style clothing. I feel like if an American girl went to most other countries, wearing short jean skirts, tight tank tops, bikinis, etc. she’d be considered a prostitute or being extremely disrespectable, as if she were degrading herself (even in Rennes, France wearing jean skirts, short sleeve shirts, and flip flops my host mom was shocked and everyone openly stared at me; one mom even had to pull her three year old daughter away and the three year old still couldn’t stop looking at my bare feet). I’ve even read a newspaper article saying in some still non-urban little cities in Turkey, where the Muslim religion is predominate, teenage girls who wear tight jeans embarrass the families name to the point where the family tries to convince her to commit suicide, that sounds too extreme to be real and now remembering it I almost don’t believe it, but I read that in the New York Times so I know it shows some validity. My boyfriend’s mother is Turkish and she was saying how one family’s daughter she knows in Turkey is only allowed to visit her boyfriend for two hours once a week to publicly eat lunch in a cafeteria with him. It’s amazing how different acceptable social behaviors are among different countries.

Dreams in the Mind and Soul

2006-11-13T16:42:00.000-06:00

One thing that I found to authentically Islamic in this play was the role of dreams. Historically, this is similar to the way that the religion was formed. Muhammad was visited by the arch angel Gabriel and this is how he found out that he was Allah's messenger. Depending on what you will believe there are shades of gray about if Muhammad's vision was a dream or reality, but I imagine that Muhammad was in some kind of dreamlike state when he received this message and then initiated others to follow him. Many of the Characters have their own realizations that take the form of hallucinations or dreams. I can remember at least three dreams scenes from the play that were meaningful to each characters development and understanding of their own spirituality. This was effective in this particular play because through the use of effects, such as music, lights and costumes characters feelings were portrayed what each character whether it was sadness, comfort, confusion, or fear. Dreams are personal and they reflect what a person is ultimately feeling deep down. Therefore they are spiritual and religious if that is a part of someone’s life. I liked the dream scene that had women dressed as birds (hooray Celeste!) It was one of the woman’s interpretation of peace and god. This scene was very visual and relaxing to watch similar to the way it is to experience these kind of dreams. It was personal and unique to her spiritual experience. I think that this was an effective way to portray the characters spiritual development and experiences to the audience.

my thoughts on the play

2006-11-13T16:34:00.000-06:00

“God doesn’t expect you to do anymore than you can.”

When Youssef said this line I kept repeating it to myself in my head throughout the rest of the play. It was just a strong statement that completely embodies what religion is all about. I thought the play was very interesting. It kind of reminds me of the movie Crash in the sense that the two settings in Damascus, Syria and Austin, TX were happening at the same time and were related by a common thread/theme. I like how Souad carried her Qur’an in her backpack at all times as well as the fact that she wore modern clothes throughout the play. This helped to break away from the stereotypical picture of Muslim women that the media has painted for us. The part where Dunya is in jail is definitely where I noticed Islam the most. I thought it was powerful how whenever Omar walked into the jail she would put the towel on her head and wrap it like it was her hijab/headscarf. Even though she is in jail she continues to follow the customs and practices of Islam. Whenever I think of Islam I think about how devout followers pray 5 times a day while facing the holy land. The prayer sequence that followed was so powerful. I just loved how even though she was in a bad situation she never turned from God and continued to worship as she could. Ibrahim also never turned from God and I liked how he accepted his fate in the end. I think that the play helped to humanize Islam and made it relatable within our own lives.

2006-11-13T16:24:00.000-06:00

First of all, I really do not think that I have just certification to judge this play as an ordinary audience member would. I think I have heard every single line each from the show 70 times over or perhaps more. Alas, the magic is gone for me I am afraid. The first thing that I would hope for other people though, is that they understood the main point of the play. It's theme was, to me, that of having hope and faith in whatever way no matter what. Thats what I have come to understand over the course of the last three months at least. I must say that the dream sequences in the play probably get a little confusing for some. It did for me in the beginning. I kind of suspected some raised eyebrows for those scenes. Surprisingly, the audience members have yet to react violently like some might have expected. They were rather sedated to me. Anywho, throughout the span of three months, I have managed to broaden my knowledge of the Islam culture and thus become more respectful of the religion. I really do wish that others would also become more informed about it, because it helped me out a lot.

2006-11-13T16:02:00.000-06:00

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this subject is the praying ritual that the actors carried out during the middle of the play. I forget the grounds as to why they were praying but I just remember the whole ritual itself. There were two men that came out to the center of the stage and then 3 women in front of the men. I don't know if this had any significance. A third man came in while the others were already in the act of praying. As the men unveiled their yoga looking mat, they smoothly rolled them out onto the floor as if they had done this many times. I thought the women were going to do this at the same time as the men but it seemed as though everyone was going on their own time, and as they proceded it was evident that this was true because everyone was clearly praying at their own pace. I think that it showed how the religion doesn't stress a strict set of massly followed rules where everyone has to do something at the same time. With the way they were doing it in the play, they all sort of met at the same time but each one started at a little bit different time and kept their own pace. I also noticed how none of it was oral, everything was about certain movements. As I looked in our Islam book by Abdul Rauf he talks about how each of these movements represents a different message to God. Although these rituals are completly different than my own, I liked how the whole thing seemed relaxing like practicing yoga. The end.

Salat

2006-11-13T15:59:00.000-06:00

One particular aspect of the play that represented the Islamic faith and that caught my attention was the scene where many different characters prayed. Each carried out their rug, laid it out, and performed the ritual.
This ritual, called Salat, has always intrigued me. I see it as such a great tradition as it represents such amazing dedication. Right now, I am at a place where I want to discover something that I could be that dedicated to, also.
Muslims must perform this ritual five times each day of each week, of each month and at certain, fixed times of the day and the fact that they do it is highly respectable. The play also gave me something to think about when the boy in the wheelchair asked about how he might pray, and I found that a person can pray while sitting or lying down in certain circumstances such as a physical handicap or sickness. There are so many rules in Salat that just demonstrates even more dedication. Some include the use of Arabic (or as best as each worshipper can speak Arabic) during prayer and the prayer must be memorized (unless one is a beginner). I respect the entire faith for the dedication they seem to put into their traditions and rituals, and the practice of Salat is one of the greatest examples of this dedication. Like they said in the play, what about in America where not many people are Muslim, and now after 9/11 Muslims are discriminated against by some Americans. It must be a challenge for a Muslim to get away from work, school, or other responsibilities and pray, especially in a place where they are not surrounded by others praying.
All I can say about this that got my attention is the word I have said over and over again, dedication. It intrigues me because I want to experience such a dedication in my life, just need to find it.

stephanie cordova's

2006-11-13T15:13:00.000-06:00

I would ahve to say that the praying really struck me as authentically Islamic. I don't know every religion or how they pray but Islamic praying seems to be the most recognizable because it has such specific guidelines such as, which direction to pray, what to wear, timing and whatever else. You have to be pretty dedicated and .. what's the word im looking for... organized? No. I don't know what im getting at here. But the play was interesting. I liked how, in the bedinning, when the two police men went into the praying place to catch whatever his name is, they took their shoes off in a hurry. They didnt just barge in and out but they stopped and took them off. Which makes me think: well, they are stomping in running around the place to look for the guy just interupting everything, but they stop to take their shoes off? It's like, well if youre going to go in there and be rude, why bother taking your shoes off? Because, they are respecting the tradition of taking shoes off but then messing up inside the place. I don't understand. I'm confusing myself i think. So that is confusing. But it seems important.

names of the characters?

2006-11-13T15:12:00.000-06:00

One thing in the play that I recognized as authentically Islamic was the devotion of the characters to their religion. there are many examples of this in that play. the example that i found especially interesting was when Ibrahim's wife (I don't remember her name) was in prison, and she found a towel to cover her head because her shawl was taken away from her. She defended her religion to Omar, and asked him to tell which direction she should pray in. Even in such difficult circumstances, she maintained her faith as a Muslim. Even though she prayed the wrong way, she was showing her devotion to God. One very dramatic and powerful scene was the scene in which the characters from all over (Syria, Austin, the woman's prison cell) pray to Allah at the same time in the same way. It represented the kinship that Muslims have as devoted followers of Islam. The only Muslim who did not show this same devotion was the character living in Austin (again, I forgot his name) who had somewhat lost the traditions he had practiced where he came from because it is not an integrated part of society to pray five times a day. This shows the oppression that many Muslims face in America.

2006-11-13T14:22:00.000-06:00

An element of the play that I recognized as authentically Islamic was the strong connection between writings and the Islamic characters. One instance in particular was with Souad and her Quaran. You could clearly see how important it was to her, like when her Grandfather dumped everything out of it and all she was wanted to keep safe was her Quaran. She also always had it covered in a scarf signifying how precious and important it is to her and her religion. Through this she becomes a symbol of the Islam religion and those that follow it, as the Quaran is extremely important in the Islamic religion. I also found Ibrahim's book to be significant in the same sense. Though it is not the Quaran, but his own book, the importance of the book to him reflects the importance of the Quaran to the Islamic religion. Just the attachment to the book symbolizes the devotion Muslims, who are strong in their Islamic faith, have to their religion.

books

2006-11-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

One area of the play that struck me as purley Islam and no other culture was the way the old man looked at the book he was writing. Often times in every culture that i am familiar with people write to share ideas with other people.For example, this blogg is written to sare my ideas with anyone in my class who wants to read it. But in the play did not write his book to share with the rest of the world. He did not write the book for himself even. He wrote the bookt o express his ideas with God. That came across to me as something no one in the western world would do. We see God as something far off and impossible to communicate with, someone who wouldn't care even if we begged him. BUt this man felt that it was his duty and responsibility to talk to God through the use of a book. He was set on having it be a communication between himself and God that the idea of publishing the book angered him.This is not something i can identify with because i always want attentiion and want to be recognized for all the work i have done in my life.

How you pray

2006-11-13T14:05:00.000-06:00

The part of the play that struck me the most was the scene that took place in the jail. The scene with Omar and (sp?) Dunya discussing religion caught my attention because it shows clearly the way religious messages can be perverted. However the scene I'm focusing on is the one in which Dunya faces the direction Omar ponits to pray. Celeste among others then come in and prey in the opposite direction. This goes into the whole "god doesn't expect you to do more than you can" theme. Dunya was being as pious and devout as she could under the circumstances. This ties into my belief that it's not how you pray that really matters, rather, it's the act itself and why; the devotion and love that goes with it. That was a very powerful scene in my opinion. I really liked the play as a whole as well, actors did well (though I thought Omar was a bit off, not quite bitingly creepy enough) . Theatre in the round is awesome, it's so much more involved than standard theatre. It did a very good job in providing insights into the true nature of Islam.

Kneeling Down at Noon

2006-11-13T12:37:00.000-06:00

The element of Kneeling Down at Noon that I thought was authentically Islamic was the lifestyle of the Muslim student living in Austin. I think that the whole point of the book was to share the hardships that Muslim’s in America are experiencing today. The prejudice and discrimination exist and there is not much anyone can do about it, except for inform. The author of What’s Right With Islam is What’s Right With America ultimate goal was to inform a world wide audience (specifically Americans) about the religion of Islam and what it is really about. If everyone knew what dedicated Muslims were truly like then hopefully the racism would decrease. The Muslim student in the play showed tragic example of how American’s may view Muslims. The student was nervous about a science project he was doing because it was a device made to evaporate objects. He was nervous because he thought others might think of it as a bomb or weapon of some sort that he could use. The student wanted to do anything he could do take the attention away from him because of the racist feelings anyone around him may have. I liked the play and thought it was a good portrayal of the present day Islamic issues, here in America and in the Middle East.

Fairies

2006-11-13T09:51:00.000-06:00

The thing I noticed that seemed most Islamic about the play was the fairy. That fairy made the whole play and I left the theater longing for those cupcakes. OK you got me, I am totally lying. I did like the fairy though….or I should say she grew on me because at first I was like what? A fairy, but anyways. I didn’t like how the ending of the play only had a happy ending because of magic. Is there really know other way to change the faults of dictatorships and get awareness out about different cultures?

Back to the original question—the thing I found most Islamic about the play was the way the citizens of Syria did not talk back to the secret police people he just bowed his head in obedience. Even though every character in the play completely disagreed with the way their government was run they felt to some degree completely helpless. I don’t think Americans, especially not middle and upper class Americans, know what helplessness is. If an American was told by the government to give them a work of art they had slaved over for months or even years they would have died before giving up what they put their heart into.

Ohhh this was not a good idea

2006-11-13T09:26:00.000-06:00

I am going to start off saying that going into any play, I am biased. I have a handicap, and that disability is the fact that I am tremendously closed minded when it comes to plays. Plays only. I can’t stand plays. I have never enjoyed a play. I’ve seen famous shows in New York, and hated them. I’ve been in plays, and despised their existence. I don’t know what it is, but I hate plays. I don’t want to, but I do. Celeste, you did a great job. It was actually entertaining to see a familiar face in a whole bunch of minor roles. I want to be fair to you and all the hard work that you and your peers put in, in order to get that production up and running, so I will not bash the play, I will simply focus on the things that I enjoyed. First off, the light exploding, very nice, very nice. I know that nobody planned it, but man it was cool, and the actors barely even flinched whereas Sean and I spent the next 20 minutes looking for bombs under our seats, looking for broken glass, checking for blood, you know, the usual things 5 year olds do, hooray Sean! The other thing I enjoyed about the play was the old man who wrote the book. He was good. He looked very Middle Eastern, I don’t know if that has ever been a compliment. To finalize my experience, Adam- no me gusta plays, me gusta explosions, blood, and broken glass.

Week 10 Entries

2006-11-13T08:26:00.000-06:00

For this week, your blog entry will cover the subject of the play Kneeling Down at Noon and our background readings on Islam. Please identify some element of the play that you recognized as authentically Islamic, and describe how the play used that element for a dramatic purpose of some significance. For instance, if the element is a stage property (a prop), describe the significance of its use in furthering the drama. Same goes for actions, dialogue, costuming, sets, etc. You will want to consider what the drama was about (and possibly what drama is about more generally) in the course of analyzing your particular detail.

Im making a poor effort to get points for this

2006-11-08T09:12:00.000-06:00

Every summer in Seattle there is a beautiful festival called Bumbershoot. This is no lie. There are a gazillion bands that come and play, there is delicious food, and very entertaining contests with interesting people including clowns, idiots, potheads, and usually one or two weirdoes dressed as harlequins. In order to get tickets, you have to call ticket master or deal with another ticket cartel, which is a big bother, and the tickets are expensive, so I always find a way to get free tickets. Usually I have to con my parents into buying them going with me, but last year I did something interesting. My best friend in Seattle, Erik, is quite well off and he has lots of toys (e.g. a ski boat, wakeboards, jetskiis, a pool...). One day we were wakeboarding when he made me a bet. If I could swim across the lake (about 2.5 miles) than he would buy me bumbershoot tickets, but if I climbed onto the Jet Ski that he would be driving, then I had to buy him tickets. I am not one to back down from a challenge, so I went ashore, and listened to some insane heavy metal and gangster rap to pump myself up. I was intense. I don't want to go into detail, but in about and hour and a half I made it across the lake, and I got my free tickets. I was happy.

Flight, makeshift, beadle, flask.

2006-11-07T23:02:00.000-06:00

I was so out of place, the only thing I wanted to do was take flight. I felt like at this get-together, my only friend was my flask. I was a little tipsy, but not drunk enough to feel social around all these unknowns. Out of nervousness, I began to feel sick to my stomach, and decided a breath of fresh air would calm me down. I slipped my flask back in my front pocket, stood up from the moth-eaten couch, and fought my way to the front door. I must have said, "Excuse me" a hundred times on my short journey to the outside world. As my feet met the front porch, and mechanically walked down the stairs to the sidewalk, I realized I was surrounded by just as many people as inside. I saw a young girl fretting; she was obviously the beadle of the bash, most-likely the daughter of the owners of the house, and she was upset about the same things I was seeing. People all around, teenage boys and girls, many smoking weed out of makeshift pipes, babbling and gossiping about this and that. Unfortunately for her, I couldn't care less that these people were getting stoned out of their minds in her front yard. No one cared. I walked across the bright green lawn, sat down on the curb, and decided this would be my last night alive.

Later

2006-11-07T18:26:00.001-06:00

I am late. But I am trying the idea of better late than never. I just woke up, though, and I am really out of it, so just know that this is not going to be very intelligent at all.
I realize my smoothness with the first two words may not be great, but they just remind me of two experiences in my life that I love and I want to speak on them separately.
The word cartel always reminds me of my “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” cd. It was stolen out of my car with all my other cds and I really need to burn it again. Every time I listen to it I want to be riding in the desert in my friend’s jeep with all the doors and windshields removed. Pretty nerdy but that’s the feeling I get from it, like being in a Colombian cartel or something.
Now harlequin reminds me greatly of New Orleans. A masked character, dressed in multicolored, diamond-patterned tights, reminds me of Mardi Gras. I am from Louisiana and I have not been able to attend a Louisiana Mardi Gras festival in years, I am happy I get to this year. The harlequins are big characters in this celebration, and in fact when I was little, my mom would get me a harlequin figure with a glass head each year for Mardi Gras.
And I really want to go wakeboarding ever since last night my friend was talking about it. Only she was saying she should just sell her wakeboard because her boyfriend she broke up with was the person she knew with a boat. How to convince her not to??? It would not be so hard to find a person with a boat, and having lived around the lake for high school, plenty of our friend’s parents have boats. I really hope she does not get rid of it, especially since none of the other friends in our group will be getting any anytime soon. It would just make for a fun day out on the lake, which I have actually not been on since I have moved back. I should pump everyone up about the lake and get out there! Especially since the rain has seemed to stop for awhile and bumbershoots are not needed to shield us from wetness.

Hey Not As Late As Me

2006-11-07T15:58:00.000-06:00

To learn is to understand. So far I understand that the severity of this blog will not be made known until the end of the year. I think the situation is quite unfortunate for us because the realization will not come until the end that these blogs do in fact hold some importance....I think. The reason I feel the need for such an argument over the weight these blogs have lies within the fact that I have no knowledge of the actual percentage that will be taken from our grade for these blogs. I do however enjoy them, a bit at least, sometimes they are a troubling inconvenience that when forgotten about make the student feel unorganized because they cannot remember to write a simple blog. However this feeling is countered with an unconcerning view that the blog does not matter much. This is all a result of the lack of information regarding the percentage of these blog's grades. It is to my pleasure to say though that I have agreed to accept this omission of grade weight from my teacher, ceding over my complete trust to the one and only Dr. Barndollar in the hope that everything will be okay. Judging the history of the lack of responsiveness from other students in the completion of these assignments, I think I will float in the same boat as them come judgement day. What I am really trying to say from all of this mayhem is well, what my whole intent for writing this blog is......well.......to be honest all I want to convey to the reader is that.............even though we all think we're the herione it's not true, we're all just an insignificant being living in a tax-and-spend America.

late again i realize...is there a reason i can never remember to do this?

2006-11-06T18:51:00.000-06:00

(All must be in a British accent) I remember the day so well. We had watched a great game of cricket and all of are players were really stonewalling that day and it was jolly good. Who knew that would be the first day of the last. The first time I coughed and saw blood in it was a very frightening experience as I was stepping into my coach. I knew it then just as I know it now; I am going to die. If only my family had more money there might be more hope for me, but as of now there are few weeks left, oh well. They told us that the medicine was lode but we just could not afford it. I wish that we could there is so much I have yet to do. Why oh why did I have to go that day. They don’t think it has anything to do with it but I think it has everything to do with it. That little boy they found dead, nobody knows how. I think there was a metastasis that day. whatever he had I have now and there really is no hope...oh well nobody gets out of this world alive and I guess sooner than later isn’t so bad. Well if this is going to be the end I suppose I should stop lying around dwelling on it. I really wish these red welts on my arms would go away. I think I’m going to play with my friends while I still have strength.

2006-11-06T17:11:00.000-06:00

In order to get to his meeting, George had to pass through a parade. It was beginning to rain, and so he pulled out his umbrella. Slightly embarrassing because of its slightly enormous size as well as the fact that it was covered in pink polka dots, he hesitated to open it. But after the raindrops began to trickle down his face, George decided he most definitely did not want to let his brand new suit. Steadily, he walked on through the parade. There were clowns everywhere. He was beginning to think, ‘thank God, no one will notice my umbrella,’ until he heard an obnoxious laughter coming from one of the clowns, who was looking straight at him and pointing to his umbrella. “That’s quite a bumbershoot you have there, buddy! (laughter again)” George was enraged that a clown in harlequin pants would have the nerve to make fun of him, but he decided not to retaliate. After all, he had an important meeting to get to. He was meeting with the heads of the companies in the cartel of his wakeboarding business, and was to give an important presentation on the safety of wakeboarding equipment. He made his way through the crowds as the rain began to grow heavier, and water began to pump its way along rain gutters into the street. ‘What an odd day this is,’ he thought to himself.

This evening

2006-11-06T16:43:00.000-06:00

This evening I will be going to see the movie Borat. I didn’t get to see it this weekend because it was sold out and I am very excited. It is about a sequential set of events and situations in which Sacha Baron Cohen plays the character Borat. Borat is introduced to people around America as a reporter from Kazakhstan. They do not know that instead of taking a flight from his “home country” Kazakhstan, he took a flight from England, where he lives as an actor. Borat has a makeshift personality, he does not understand anything about American culture. He is a type of character that may drink out of a flask while driving and if he was at a parish, he might disrespect a beadle by creating a disturbance during a service. Borat's character is funny to me because he does everything that is politically incorrect. He embodies a part of the everyday American’s alter ego. We are all politically incorrect at times and this is why I think this movie will become extremely popular. It is universally funny because America is so set in being politically correct these days. This makes it easier for comedians to write great material, because there are more and more things that cannot these days. It is interesting to me that some things can never be said with certain tones. A good comedian understands the thin line between politically incorrect and funny. I hope that Sacha Baron Cohen fulfills my hopes for this movie!

my mom

2006-11-06T16:26:00.000-06:00

My mom is the most beautiful person I know. Not only is she stunning from the outside, she has the biggest heart. I learn more important life lessons from her everyday than anyone could teach me in a lifetime. Her courage and accomplishments prove her to be quite the heroine. From raising her children, to maintaining an amazing relationship with her husband of twenty-three years, to getting up and moving to Uganda to help orphans. My mom just got back from Africa on Thursday and I told my sister about how much more adoration my mom deserves. She agreed and brought up the point that we take advantage of the amazing relationships we have formed with our mom. When my mom got home we talked and looked at pictures for hours. She made me realize the severity of the social issues in Uganda. One main issue is the difficulty in adopting children from Uganda. There are hundreds of able and willing families that are looking to adopt African children, but the government has made it such a strenuous and difficult process. The government has used a tax-and-spend policy to earn money for themselves through adoption. If the government cannot earn that money from the applicants trying to adopt, then the chances of them receiving a child are slim. If the family does stick to trying to adopt, then they most likely will have to resign in Africa for about three years.

the gold rush

2006-11-06T16:25:00.000-06:00

It was a cold, foggy morning when the boorish miners left Texas traveling west to California in search of lodes of gold. They were all ecstatic with anticipation for the material wealth they would soon find but no outsider could tell of their joys hopefulness because they were all so rude and unmannerly. The ride was long and slow since they traveled by coach and when they finally did arrive they were welcomed as much as roaches in a five star restaurant. The aristocratic society was infuriated by the metaphorical metastasis that occurred - the “cancerous” miners infesting their beautiful land. They all wished to stonewall them out and keep their land miner-free and beautiful. Unfortunately, this small group of men were just the beginning of the people traveling to California in search of gold that would one day be better known as the 49'ers and the gold rush.

Mr. B.

2006-11-06T16:18:00.000-06:00

I remember at the end of senior year my Literature teacher thought it would be fun to read a harlequin romance. He kept saying for a few class periods, “Wouldn’t it be fun to read a harlequin romance novel and pick it apart? We should read one with Fabio on the cover. They are so trashy only housewives read them.” He pumped up this idea so much that I got kind of excited. A few days later he came into class and said, “I changed my mind. I read a few that I thought would be interesting and boy. . .way too trashy. I mean really, really cheesy. We’re just going to have to read poetry and short stories until the end of the year.” Way to pump it up and not deliver Mr. B. At least the poetry we read wasn’t too bad. Some of the short stories were strange but I guess I should have expected that from him.

Mr. B was such a cool teacher and kind of weird at times. For starters, when it rained he didn’t really like carrying a bumbershoot around so he just wore a hood and would talk about how he loved the rain since he went to college in Seattle and got used to it. He was passionate about everything we discussed in class and often got political and would rant about a current situation. He went on a tangent about exhange rates/policies a few times and disliked the fact that even though cartels are prohibited by antirust laws they still exist. Book discussions would turn into political debates even if we are talking about the difference between love and lust. He would always tell us about his little adventures like when he was in Kansas and was pissed because people kept asking him if he was lost when he was looking at the corn fields. He also wasn’t much of a fan of extreme sports or basically anything that involves trashing the body around like a doll. He wondered who the hell invented wakeboarding or basically who thought it would be fun to hold on to a string attached to the back of a boat while your feet are strapped into a piece of foam. He was such an interesting guy. I definitely looked forward to that class.

2006-11-06T15:54:00.000-06:00

First time I saw a flask was in the movie Brigadoon. At the very beginning Gene Kelly and his friend get lost in fog while hunting in Scotland’s forests. As the two stop to consult the map, his friend leans his hunting gun against a tree and brings out a huge flask, probably made of leather. Leather flasks were classy, now all I see are the cheap metal ones. But originally, I thought this was interesting, flasks were made out of horns for soldiers to carry gun powder; imagine whipping out a flask from your blazer’s inside chest pocket and it’s a huge rhinoceros horn holding your whiskey or whatnot. Couldn’t really hide that though and take the infamous, indiscrete sips out of it. I want a horn flask anyway, and then I could be a makeshift; a shifty rogue with brilliant schematic plots to rob banks while dressed in rouge. I’d have my trusty gang of bandits too. A beadle (not beetle like the bug which is what I originally thought the word was) would try and discover my gangs secret lay out, being the town crier and all, but we’d put him in flight, scaring him off with our tuffness and my rino horn flask.

Extreme!!!

2006-11-06T15:41:00.000-06:00

I am an extreme sport enthusiast. I take part in as many adrenaline rushing events a s I possibly can. This love of the extreme often leads me to the past time of wake boarding. Me and my friends travel across the country trying to cut the water in the most vicious lakes possible. One day we were cruising in my friends boat at some lake in Mexico and we had just come in from a run. The house we were staying in did not have running water so we had to use a pump to get a drink a of water. Right when we were just getting relaxed a man dressed as a harlequin, probably a Mexican wrestler, forced me to sign a cartel. Therefore forcing me to enter a duel in a weeks time in Tijuana. Upon realizing the recent turn of events I wanted only to escape my fate of dueling. I didn't even know people still did that sort of thing. I wasn't ready to risk my life in a gun battle. I told my friends it was time for us to head back to the states but they kept on mocking me and telling me that I am scared of the battle ensuing. This attack on my manhood inspired me too take up the challenge of a duel. I will never forget the scorching hot sunny day in which I entered the field to battle for my life for no reason. I even remember the man who was in the field with a bumbershoot. I went on to kill the an and that was the most extreme sport of all.

2006-11-06T14:55:00.000-06:00

She puts her feet right where they had to go,
Taking delicate steps out of the horse drawn coach.
This is not where she’s from, but she’s been here before.
It was only a few years ago when she first fell…when she first fell back;
From 1995 to 1894.
It was exactly what she wished for.
Not of bicycles or bathing suits or proms of her time.
But of carriages and heavy gowns.
And of fancy balls and true love with gentlemen so kind.
She came as a boor; humble, poor, and meek.
At least that's what she was from what he could see.
Neither of them knew that clear across time, their souls were meant to meet.
She giggled at his gentle manners and nice clothes.
He, amazed by her free hair blowing in the wind;
Just as free as her energy so much more vibrant than other girls.
The other girls that she would soon become.
He watched her make the metastasis from the girl with the short dress cut far above her knees,
A look by far too scandolous for him to see,
To a full bloomed rose; draped in gowns that covered breathe restricting corsets and fell softly and precisely over lacy petticoats.
And he found it difficult to breathe just as much as she did
As they danced in the midst of staring eyes.
Her cheek against his chest, his chin nestled upon her head...
And then she was gone, faded into the tense air.
They said he was crazy, yet they could not deny that she had been present.
"She'd found him once, she'll find him again."
And they mistook his heartache for insanity.
They said that she ran away, and she swore that it was time that took her away.
I found him once, I'll find him again.
And they didn't deny her because she knew better than to say it outside of her own head.
They could not convince everyone that their mouths were not telling lies.
No one could stonewall them from each other.
She would find a way back across time.
She did it once, and she’ll do it again.
And then time kidnapped her.
It swirled her back over years and years.
And this time she laughed as images of the past swirled around her and throughout her.
This time, the carriage is waiting for her, waiting to take her home.
And she’s smiling as a lone black horse pulls her down the lode.
She’s positive that what she seeks will be at the end
She puts her feet right where they had to go,
Taking delicate steps out of the horse drawn coach.
This is not where she’s from, but she’s been here before.
It was only a few years ago when she first fell…

2006-11-06T13:48:00.000-06:00

We had been standing in line for hours and decided that these people could just move. We had not eaten all day and needed some kind of filler. We decided to subtly makeshift up to the front through all these people. We did not want to be rude and cut people to make them mad or anything we just had not eaten in so long that our mind was totally set on one thing and one thing only. We started up but the line was so long and began to crowd. The people were no longer sequential but in a mob now. Crushing a beadle under my foot out of anger I decide I will not have any more of this I use my super powers to fly over the crowd of people. In mid flight I can see the flask burning what will soon by my food. I quickly grab enough food for me and my friends and the day is once again good.

stephanie cordova's

2006-11-06T13:29:00.000-06:00

I can't wait to graduate. I just want to get my degree and get the heck outta here. I want to travel and learn and do things i havn't done before and feel free. This sounds really corny. But my mother agreed. At first i didnt think she would go for it but she was just like, "Alright, that sounds good" which was really surprising. But Im glad. She is quite the heroine. We are building a second house right now. Im very proud of her. I went to go see it last weekend. Right now it's just sticks but im totally digging it. And it's in a neighborhood! I've never lived in a neighborhood before. Hopefully i can comprehend the severity of the whole situation. And my sister! what will she do? I bet she'll meet neighbor kids but it'll still be weird i'm sure. gosh. she is growing up so damn fast. she is my height now. how so weird! I just did my essay 3 on environmental security. I wonder if the government used the tax-and-spend policy to exploit the land. i feel like i've said exploit so much the past few days. i dont like it! i just dont even like it! and what about this play we are going to see. im totally digging that. i havnt seen a play in quite some time. and i have never been inside the threatre. or is it threater.

Fight for your right to party

2006-11-04T16:43:00.000-06:00

I do not think of myself as any sort of expert in anything. Well, no, I take that back. I shouldn't see myslef as an expert in anything, but I do anyway. I think everyone does. We learn quickly on that we have to see ourselves as experts, or else we sink. It is almost like some kind of underground agreement, evn if everyone else knows about it. As much as we all want to see ourselves be the most successful, there will always be someone better than us. Could this just appear to be true, or does that complex merely exist in our mind's eye? Are we all equally as successful as the next person or is our future predestined? Is it already planned that some people become murderers, or heroine-addicts, or rapists? The severity of these very questions keeps me awake while everyone sleeps. Perhaps because I just like to think entirely too much at night, for some reason. These such puzzles make me more and more confused about why we are here and what we should even be doing. I mean all of these protocals and laws, like tax-and-spend, make my brain hurt. We worry too much. We need to listen to the Beastie Boys more.

be being been am is are was were!!!! okay its out of my system

2006-11-03T09:26:00.000-06:00

I absolutely love going to the movies. Sitting there watching the scene flicker different colors and images makes me super happy. I like all sorts of different movies, but sitting in the movie theater makes me feel like I have some personal involvement in the movie. I went to go see Saw three this week. It scared me, but not in the "ahh" way; it just gave me the creeps. I still enjoyed all of the graphic nature and twisted sense of the movie. I wish it ended differently though. Makes me sad. Oh well, my all time favorite movie I want to go see in the Imax, The Nightmare Before Christmas! I love all of the colors and shapes and lines in the movie. I wish that my television didn’t crap out all the time. I would watch that movie everyday, but the screen spins when the picture is too dark. I think I might ask for a new TV for Christmas. Not a large TV, but a smaller one would work just fine. I don’t know if I want Christmas to come this year. I work so much, and when holiday hours kick in I will have no time. Also I hate picking whom I can afford to buy presents for. I wish it I could have my way and buy something for everyone. I love buying things for other people. I wish we could barter and not worry about money. Oh well, I suppose that’s the cards life deals us. This blog sounds kind of melancholy. I just miss the linking verb I suppose. Have a lovely day all!

Look at the etimology of these characters

2006-11-03T09:21:00.000-06:00

Mr. Lode, well, he's most erudite among us. He's a wealth of information and the only source any of us have as far as anything scholarly goes. I guess you could say he was a lode of all things academic. He has a little peasant boy that works within his not-so-humble abode. He does little odds and ends for Mr. Lode such as taking one of Mr. Lode's numerous dogs for a walk, dusting the head mounts in Mr. Lode's parlor, or entertaining Mr. Lode's company with native song and dance. Mr. Lode named this little boy Boor. He was as unruly and crude as they come. In an effort to curb Boor's more boorish qualities he called upon his long time colleague and friend, Coach Stonewall McGee. McGee specialized in stonewalling the more churlish attributes of the uncultured. He is a coach in etiquette. Well McGee succeeded in turning Boor into a butler of utmost respectability, and Mr. Lode was "Quite, Pleased. Yes, quite pleaded indeed!” Mr. Lode and Boor lived happily together and, in fact, they even became very close friends. Stonewall McGee started a ten step program on how to become refined. By now you are probably wondering about me, the narrator of this fine piece of prose. Well, that requires a brief metastasis right here.

I'm seeing Borat tonight, who's with me?

Dia de los Muertos (revised)

2006-11-03T09:20:00.000-06:00

In the spirit of Halloween my family has created a family tradition that we practice annually. Not only does my family celebrate Halloween in the American way, by wearing costumes and giving away candy, my family celebrates Dia de los Muertos. We do not come from Mexico or any other Latin American country, we just like the holiday. Though we don't practice all parts of this tradition, the tradition of getting together and talking about those who have passed has become one that I hold close to my heart. I don't know if I could find a better way to start off the holiday season than gathering with the ones I love to share memories about the people we have lost. These memories could make me cry or laugh and I feel comforted knowing that my family celebrates life at this time of year every year. The idea of celebrating people that we cherished after they have passed away seems to have slipped through the cracks in mainstream American culture. The celebration of a persons life takes place either on the day of their funeral, sometimes on the day of their birth or their death, an remains masked as a depressing act. While in fact wouldn't the people we spend time mourning for want us to remember their lifetime rather than and not their death? During Dia de los Muertos people can talk about silly memories and stories. While the deaths of these people may have been tragic, the funny memories help us through, the grief of missing people. I don't know if I will cry today or not, but I know if I do I will most likely see at least one familiar face crying at the same time. Most of all I look forward to laughing, and basking in the joyful stories about the loved ones I knew and learning about those that I didn't know.

Week 9 Blog Entries

2006-11-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

This week, you will need to write a short creative entry of your choosing, whose only restriction is to use five prescribed words within the entry. Your set of words will be common to only a small group in the class, each of whom will write his or her own entry; different groups will use different word sets. The groups and sets are as follows:

Sean, Nicole, Gigi, Nichole, Adam: cartel, harlequin, wakeboarding, pump, bumbershoot
Stephanie, Celeste, Matt, Brooke: severity, heroine, agreed, tax-and-spend, learn
Amy, Hannah, Kaitlin, Kyle: lode, boor, stonewall, coach, metastasis
Jewel, Elise, Christine, Will: flask, flight, makeshift, beadle, sequential

All of these sets were generated at random from the Oxford English Dictionary online (well, I disqualified a few really obscure choices that came up...). Your commentary should focus on the accuracy and smoothness with which the writers use the required elements, and as usual on any other things you wish to reflect back to the entry author.

2006-10-31T12:27:00.000-06:00

The word "awesome" describes my cat Oliver best. Unavoidable grouchiness occurs, yet Oliver falls under the category of "Will's Favorite Cat." Oliver believes strongly in running around and playing outside. Had he the ability of talking, Oliver would undeniably say, "Feed me or rub my head, if not, a violent scratching will take place." Never would Oliver force my fingers to a keyboard, forcing a blog of such absurdity. Oliver leads by example as a lover of sleep. Oliver shows other cats the true way of sleeping by doing so for hours on end. Only periodical pokes from myself awake his slumber, followed by exaggerated yawns and a return to Dreamland. An abundance of fuzziness surrounds Oliver; giving birth to a desire of squeezing him very hard. Beforehand, one must consider all dangers of doing so. One: Trouble breathing and suffocation suffered by Oliver. Murdering Oliver lands in realm of "undesirable." Two: Uncontrollable anger swells inside of Oliver, causing outbursts of hissing and scratching. Bloody, scratchy face falls under "undesirable," as well.

I say to Oliver, "you equal freakin' sweet" on a regular basis. Oliver reacts with a smile, and usually says, "Catnip. Meow. Yawn. Food. Now."

2006-10-30T23:10:00.000-06:00

Of course I again forget to write my blog ontime. I honestly do not know why i constantly forget to write it. This time I forgot because I took a three-hour nap after my classes ended at 2:00. Then of course, I had practice. After that I had to take a shower, during which, by my luck, the fire alarm went off for the second time this week. So, five hours after I meant to have it in, I remember the blog assignment. But since I doubt anyone cares to hear me complain any further, for the remainder of my blog, will share some of my observations.

Well, I noticed that a lot of people decided to wear their Halloween costume tonight. Apparently they like to get started early. I myself decided not to join in the Halloween festivities by dressing up tonight. Tomorrow night, on the other hand, I plan to go all out. This year, I chose the costume of a 60s go-go dancer. I know I could have put more creativity into my costume, but time ran out in my search, and besides, it looked pretty good. I noticed a lot of good costumes this year. I saw a couple that dressed up as Adam and Eve, a Betty Boop, and a big goober named Adam in a Twinkie costume. I love Halloween.

Twelve- Sentence Childhood

2006-10-30T16:39:00.000-06:00

I run down the deserted, black and white checkered hallway, towards the room full of cigarette smoke and a TV. Sugarplum fairies run by and The Nutcracker comes over to me, drenched in sweat, and lifts me high above his head. The bell-shaped dove chocolates spill out of my Christmas stocking. I inhale my pink, sparkly, Barbie lip gloss. It’s Monday night and I get to stay up late with my dad to watch Star Trek. I get sleepy and lie on my stomach as my mother lightly tickles my back. The yellow dress I wear blows up to my waste as I stand over the air vent. Water trickles down my body, in-between my toes as I jump out of the pool to run and get a root beer flavored swim pill. My dad told me to eat as much of my Halloween candy as I wanted, I asked for hot chocolate too, then I threw up; he said I told you so. I eat my Elvis Presley Sandwich, peanut butter and banana, for lunch. I insist on having the frozen TV dinner with the laughing penguin on the front of the box because it has chocolate pudding with rainbow sprinkles inside for dessert.

Junebug

2006-10-30T16:36:00.000-06:00

This movie named Junebug recently came out on DVD. I watched it just today and found it very interesting. Although, I self-admittingly harbor some strange attraction for Benjamin Mackenzie. The movie's script owns the meaning of the word, "awkward." Later on tonight I rehearse for the upcoming play about Islam. I don't know exactly why I mentioned that, but there you go. I find writing this blog specifically difficult. Maybe the requirement of memorizing helping verbs in the 5th grade served me well. Wow, a constant humor exists with "Junebug." I wonder if anyone else's blog took a long time to write. Everything that I think of goes against the rules. This movie rules. The deadline in turning in the blogs approaches rapidly. My fingers don't seem able enough for the task, it seems. A thought dawned upon me a few seconds ago. I thought of the comments we must write on eachothers' blogs. Are they supposed to follow the same guidelines? I dread the answer a bit. I glanced at the clock on my roommate's table and a flood of dread spread through me. Lateness always creeps it's way into my schedule with or without me realizing it. Whenever I do realize it's presence, there then belies no point in the discovery.

2006-10-30T16:25:00.001-06:00

This weekend I drove to Dallas to bring my boyfriend back for his homecoming. He does not have a licenses or a vehicle so if I did not take him he could not go. I joyfully agreed, although meeting his family completely freaked me out. The whole way up there I played all the different paths the weekend could take in my head. His family could absolutely despise me and pray for Sunday morning and my return to Austin. His family could feel indifferent to me and pretty much ignore me. Or my choice, they could love me and want me to return soon. We finally arrived four and a half hours after departing and the time had come to find out their reaction towards me. David’s dad sat outside waiting for us and as soon as David introduced me his dad welcomed me with a huge hug. A good start I thought but in no way a promise that the rest of the weekend would go the same. We walked inside and his mom welcomed us with another hug for me. After unloading our luggage we headed to the living room and Mrs. Delgado showed us pictures from her trip to Spain. The next two days we ate meals together, went shopping together, watched football together and ate birthday cake together. I love that family and they all said they hoped to see me at Thanksgiving. In the end the weekend proved to take the path I had hoped for. As I drove home relief flowed through my body

ummm(revised)

2006-10-30T16:25:00.000-06:00

I will write an excellent paper. I will accomplish the goal assigned for us in class. I will create a robot that will do all of my homework for me so I never have to worry about doing homework again. Don't worry about the robot thing. Happiness will not ensue if I do not get any sleep. I have the most important chemistry test of the semester. I want to get as much sleep as possible so I will put myself in the best position to do well. I don't believe I will get credit for this assignment. I want to get straight A's in all of my classes, but at this point this seems impossible. One day I will believe the saying "all things are possible if you put your mind to it." One day I will graduate from college. One day I will grow up. In the future I will have a family. The coming of the future approaches soon, maybe a little bit too soon. I don't know if I will be ready for it when it comes. It might catch me by surprise. It might come when my guard is down. It may arrive when I least expect it. Either way it will come. Whether I will prepare for it or not.

oh, life.

2006-10-30T16:16:00.000-06:00

My last class of the day let out early. Pretty sweet deal right there. I thought my day would drag but it actually breezed by rather quickly. I dread Mondays for the most part but I figure a lot of people feel the same way. I had all intentions of doing my blog right after Literature and Philosophy but food and a nap seemed oh so tempting. My friend Sarah kept raving about fajitas so I went and got one. Long story short I chose the food and the nap. I honestly like blogging for this class but that nap sucked me in for sure. I fly home in less than a month. I don’t know how I feel about that. I have issues calling my family on a regular basis probably because the conversations always take an hour or more out of my day - an hour or more of talking about absolutely nothing. Fun fun. My friends from LA who have gone home at some point since college started say that dealing with the parentals suck and “home” feels weird. How do I feel about that? I have no idea. I don’t miss California all that much right now. I miss little things here and there but overall not a whole lot. Weird. Deep down inside I still love it, and I plan on living there in the long run. I miss my doggies. They deserve big, warm hugs when I get back. I guess if I hug them I have to hug my parents and brothers as well. Everyone wins. Sounds like a plan.

2006-10-30T15:36:00.000-06:00

i do not exactly know what i want to write about right now. sickness has taken over me, and i feel really kinda bitchy. so i guess i will just ramble about a current dilemma.
i do not know what what school i want to go to next fall in 2007. i have until january to decide if i want to go back to south florida, because in january my residency in florida ends and i will lose my bright future's scholarship. i think i know i do not want to remain in austin, although two years ago i only wanted to live in austin, the place i considered my home. confusion surrounds me as i know it surrounds all college students, especially freshman. i just wish i had more time to make a decision. well, i do have more time to make a decision about moving to other places besides south florida. i can make this decision as late as march. maybe california, a small town in colorado, louisiana, vermont, new hampshire, virginia, maybe another country like india, ireland, iceland, sweden, germany, jamaica, costa rica, puerto rico, venezuela... i do not know. as for my decision regarding south florida though, i, again, do not have so much time. the main decision with south florida comes when i must decipher if i really want to live in south florida or if i just miss it since i just moved away about two months ago. greener grass always grows on the other side.

to be or not to be, haha im freakin hilarious

2006-10-30T15:34:00.000-06:00

Wow, this assignment tickles my brain. I don't know whether I should feel good that it will come to an end, or if I should feel angry with my Prof. for giving it to me. I never really realized how much we use the verb that will not become permitted for use at this time, until I started writing. I want to tell a story right now. It pertains to my current situation. Currently, the baseball team practices on our beloved field, yet I sit here slaving in front of my computer in order to fulfill my Professor’s whims. This cruel and unusual punishment comes from the Prof. Barndollar. I got out of my Biology lab early, so I decided that for once I should do this blog on time, but things are not going as planned. I have Eminem cranked up in the background, and my frustration level now comes to a peak. Did you know that the word "level" falls into the category of a palindrome? I like word, palindrome. Palindrome, behind coagulate, takes second place on my list of favorite words. I have no third place. Well, with my task now completed, baseball calls, and an angry coach awaits. Two more words, haha I beat the system.

Dia de Los Muertos

2006-10-30T15:29:00.000-06:00

In the spirit of Halloween my family has created a family tradition that we practice annually. Not only does my family celebrate Halloween in the American way, by wearing costumes and giving away candy, my family celebrates Dia de los Muertos. We are not from Mexico or any other Latin American country, we just like the holiday. Though we don't practice all parts of this tradition, the tradition of getting together and talking about those who have passed has become one that I hold close to my heart. I don't know if I could find a better way to start off the holiday season than gathering with the ones I love to share memories about the people we have lost. These memories could make me cry or laugh and I feel comforted knowing that my family celebrates life at this time of year every year. The idea of celebrating people that we cherished after they have passed away seems to have slipped through the cracks in mainstream American culture. It appears to me that a person's life is usually celebrated on the day of their funeral, sometimes on the day of their birth or their death, an remains masked as a depressing act. While in fact wouldn't the people we spend time mourning for want us to remember their lifetime rather than and not their death? During Dia de los Muertos people can talk about silly memories and stories. While the deaths of these people may have been tragic, the funny memories help us through, the grief of missing people. I don't know if I will cry today or not, but I know if I do I will most likely see at least one familiar face crying at the same time. Most of all I look forward to laughing, and basking in the joyful stories about the loved ones I knew and learning about those that I didn't know.

Autumn Memories

2006-10-30T15:02:00.000-06:00

I absolutely love the beginning of autumn. I love not only how everything changes and in a good way, but how you can feel this change in the air. I suddenly feel happier than ever during the transition from summer to autumn. Even when in the worst mood in the midst of a troublesome and stressful week, when everything feels fallen apart, that first day of autumn erases it all. For example, today my happiness bubbled over. As someone described as mysterious and hard to read, for once I could not contain my emotions. I swear I talked my friend’s ears off which surprised us both as our roles suddenly reversed. With Halloween coming up tomorrow, it just boosts my excitement even further. And then comes Thanksgiving, my absolute favorite holiday, perhaps since it occurs during my favorite season. I also recall so many good memories from this season. When fall comes around, I immediately think of fall festival from my elementary/middle school, an event occurring in my life for eight years. I miss the excitement in the air just days before, the games, silly string fights with friends, dressing up, the cake walk, and mostly the innocence of it all. Back then Halloween meant dressing up as our heroes and going door to door collecting candy in cold weather. Though Halloween remains fun now that I’m older, the innocence drifted away. Now this holiday consists of dressing in as little as possible and drinking until you can’t even walk. As fun as that sounds, sometimes I would prefer the days when I dressed up as Darkwing Duck, or my favorite, Han Solo. I would also prefer trick-or-treating with my friends then spending the next day eating bags of candy until we got sick to our stomachs. We all grow up eventually, but at least we keep those memories and look back on them for comfort. This entry totally took a different turn then from when it started, but as I said this season brings back random memories. Therefore, I think I pretty much made my point, and all without using any form of the verb “to be.”

let's give it a try

2006-10-30T14:48:00.000-06:00

I just laughed out loud at how hard the assiginment will turn out. This strong feeling inside of deffinate defeat lingers. How embarassing I feel. Hopefully I will not fail too badly. In 2 hours, I will drive to San Antonio to visit my boyfriend. We shall go out to eat and hopefully visit Brindle's for ice cream. I think I will have my Rhet. Comp. major, roommate check this entry for me. Tonight, I hope to write my mother a 'thank you' letter for her hard work as a provider. She works hard. Refraining from using 'to be' verbs can completely change the meaning of a sentence you wish to write (in this case anyways). I always sit in the poofy, blue chair with the floral patter because I feel the most comfortable in it of the four in the Meadow's Coffee House here at St. Edwards. A person can sink in and relax. The more I concentrate on not using the 'to be' verbs, the easier it becomes. But I still must think twice. Today, during mathmatics, I thought of the name I could possibly name my daughter, if I have one. I approve of Bella. I think of Belle from Beauty and the Beast and the princesses of Disney rock. My favorite character, Ariel the mermaid, swims beautifully. She has red hair. I wish I had red hair. What fun I would have.

Beri Leigh

2006-10-30T14:45:00.000-06:00

I have no earthly idea what to talk about. So I figured I would enlighten you all about my big sister. Over the past four years she (Beri) has become my best friend. My mom gave birth to her four years before myself; therefore we had to deal with the common things sisters fight about. But lately we have started to treat each other more like friends than sisters. She actually just moved out to Texas from my home town in California…She dated this guy named Bobby for five years in San Francisco. They decided to get engaged, move in together, and even name their kids. About a year ago Bobby became an Oakland police officer. For those of you who don’t know, Oakland has one of the highest crime rates. Bobby spent all day at work, chasing criminals and drug dealers and talking down to them. He became completely unable to change his attitude and personality when he came home from work. He talked down to her, and pretty much treated her like shit. So, about a month ago, Beri packed all her stuff and moved out here. It sucks a lot because Bobby acted like a big brother to me, and now Beri doesn’t want anything to do with him. But I just have to remember that being away from him will be better for her in the end. And now I have my sister here, which makes me happy.

The end. Hope I did this right?

The Beautiful Annabel Lee

2006-10-30T11:55:00.000-06:00

He lies within her white-washed pillars and Gothic air. The salty spray and mist sing the only requiem ever sung for him. I approach its perch atop the sultry plateau and I can see death weaving webs in the air. I feel my insides churn as I picture the skeletal hands playing with his hair instead of mine. Never! Never can I accept so cruel a fate. Fate bereaved me of my husband and soon I will bereave fate of her pawn. He called me Beatrice and now I will live up to that name. Fate coveted us and so attempted to tare us apart. Let her try! I laugh at her! She knows not and never shall know love as we knew it. I balance myself now with my toes gripping the jagged rocks of the edge of the cliff. Yes, let her try, fate will never sever our souls. I can feel a light breeze picking up behind me and I watch as my hair flows wildly forwards. I close my eyes and for the last time I breathe this somber, lonesome air. I can see him now. He turns and runs from me and I follow. I plunge down, down, ever downwards until at last he catches me with open arms; consummation at last.
" For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea..."

A Difficult Copula

2006-10-30T11:50:00.000-06:00

It remains a fact that trying something informed of not doing always creates much more stress and resistance in the executing of a task and leads into situations of much awkwardness. For example, when meeting someone for the first time, previous advice before meeting the individual from a friend tells you that this person sports an extremely large ear. Just one ear for the other side of his face lies all in good proportion. So the information relayed beforehand advises you in not looking at this person’s abnormal ear because if you look oddly at it, the man becomes furious. Expressing a general desire for a good first impression, the goal of not glancing at this man's ear becomes the main focus of attention. When the action unfolds, and the man enters the room for the greeting, you develop into a fearful and uneasy state because the sole thing that your mind limits you from doing causes you a desire of doing it. The human's natural curiosity for undiscovered things fights the urge of complying and succumbs reluctantly into looking away. This answers the question of why it remains tremendously difficult because what your brain tries telling you continues as the only thing in your mind. A famous movie series of our time with a witty character named Austin Powers encounters this circumstance when he meets a man with a large mole. Although previous instruction orders him of looking away or straying from talking about the mole, Powers cannot fight the urge and makes a mockery of the mole. I believe these instances compare most significantly with the assignment at hand. As a result, this blogg so far relies heavily on much revision and thought and consequently holds first place for the hardest and trying blogg ever written in the history of my profound and exquisite blogging. Although I find it quite perplexing that the advantages in writing like this make my writing a bit more interesting. I hope my efforts reap great rewards and that there lies no mistakes in my courageous efforts. I want knowledge of anyone finding this assignment easy.

Late Week 6 Blog Entry

2006-10-28T12:50:00.000-05:00

10 minutes never feels long enough to do anything. My teacher told me I had ten minutes to go talk to the nurse and then come right back to class. What if I was really sick? What if I had the black plague? Did the teacher expect the nurse to cure me of the black plague, and have me ready for class 10 minutes later?

With such thoughts racing through my brain, it made the trip down to the nurse seem like seconds. The nurse, an overweight woman with a bright red face, told me that the flu was going around, and I might have caught it. Great, I thought, I've got the Bird Flu, and now I've got the ironic nurse blabbing in my ear about it. She said she would call my mom, but first she needed to talk to my teacher. So I sat there in the lounge, wishing I could take a nap on the fake leather couch. I heard the nurse talking to my teacher about last night's American Idol, proving my prediction that no one would care about my life-threatening situation. So I got up.

I was feeling quite feverish. I had the chills, so I took great pleasure in zipping my jacket up to my aching throat. I walked out into the hallway. The halls were vacant, and I felt really alone for the first time in a couple of months. I walked up to the "Exit" sign above the main hallway door, and stared at it for a moment.

If no one cares that I'm dying, I thought, then I am just going to get the fuck out of here.

I pushed the handle down and swung the door open. My first 2 steps were nerve-racking, but by the third I was feeling quite confident. I was finally walking away, with no intention of ever returning.

Late Week 5 Blog Entry

2006-10-28T12:17:00.001-05:00

My dorm room... what a terrible mess it is! I have been meaning to clean it since, well, the second day of class. We're not ten weeks in to school, correct? That's rough.

Two basketball players, both over six feet tall, living in a room the size of a closet. What a terrible injustice. Sweaty socks and basketball jerseys everywhere. Closets piling high with dirty laundry. Beside my bed, there are still leftover peices of box from my labtop arrival.

I have a whole shelf designated for my textbooks, and it is only half-way full. The other half of my textbooks are scattered around my room, some half-open on the floor, some stacked in groups on my bed. Speaking of my bed, I've gotten into the unfortunate habit of piling things onto it, and then when night falls, I just push it all to the side to make room for my tired body. How great would it be to get to spread out on my bed for once, instead of twisting my body into awkward positions in order to keep the piles from falling and waking my roommate!

On my desk, there is a really nice labtop, surrounded by a bunch of crap. It reminds me of a 3-story mansion, built smack-dab in the middle of a trailer park. There's empty powerade bottles, plastic forks and spoons, birthday cards, an opened bag of candy corn, highlighters, pens, a stapler, ibuprofen, etc.

I think my room has become this state of disorder due to my lack of time; when I am not in class, I am at basketball practice or eating in the cafeteria.

And when I finally, FINALLY, get some free time... I spend it all writing stupid blogs.

The End.

Week 8 Blog Entries

2006-10-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

For this week, you have an open topic for the blog, with the following restrictions: 1) you must use complete sentences (including subjects and verbs), and 2) you may not use any forms of the verb "to be" ("be," "am," "is," "are," "was," "were," "been," "being," or contraction forms such as "I'm" or "you're"). Let these restrictions guide how you choose to express yourselves this week, and see what emerges. By not relying on the copula (look it up) this week, you have an opportunity to practice strengthening your language use.

Note that except for the words within quotation marks serving to illustrate the list of proscribed words, this entry does not use the copula...

How?

2006-10-25T14:13:00.000-05:00

How will i make a difference? A goal i have at st.edwards is to get a degree that i can possibly use in a future career. But before that, my main goal is to learn how I am going to make a difference. i think that st. edwards is very effective in helping me bring this question up every day. it is part of the mission statement and the core of how my teachers teach their classes. i have had many lessons involving solutions to problems. though i never have the greatest ideas i certainly appreciate that we are asked to look inside ourselves for these solutions to problems. im not sure how many other colleges around have this type of problem-solving thinking come up everyday like I experience here. usually when we think of college we think of high academic strain. Yet, going to school at st edwards i feel like my classes are more about ideas and thinking out of the box. i hope that by my senior year st. edwards will have shaped me to be a thinker that can come up with out of the box ideas quicker than i can now! How will i make a difference? I was thinking about global warming and how i will make a difference. im not quite sure how i will yet but i appreciate that st. edwards brought that movie to campus. i hope that many other people are thinking the same question as me. How? then st. edwards will have succeeded in their mission statement.

why am i always late

2006-10-23T21:55:00.000-05:00

Why am i always late doing this???!?!? Oh yeah its because im swamped. ok so the way i look at this blog it is basically a chance for me to complain so bear with me for a few moments.... This weekend i was gone on a reteat that was fun, but suuuuuper time consuming. I didnt get half as much done as i wanted to and it was fn cold. then sunday night it was PI night where i work. dont know what that menas? let me inlighten you its product inventory. ie count all the crap that is in the store!!!! So my shift sunday evening was from 7 til oh about 2 in the morning....blakjeirubawcalvn, i was not so happy. So im close to failing my italian class and there is no way i can mis it so i get up this morning at 630 to go and about half way through the class i nearly pass out and start texting ppl to get assignments at this point i go home and pass out til about 1 in the afternoon and wake up to have to be backk at work at 2 this is the part where i go crazy, not to mention stupid dumb boy who shall not be named ie my bf is being a jackass and i am just not happy.....anywho for all who endured i aplogise and good day

I always forget.

2006-10-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

Why do i always forget to do this bogg on time? It seems that i have forgotten to do this blogg thousands of times. I feel like there is no way i ever actually do remember and when i do remember its a freak accident. If this grade is worth anything at all i am in jepardy of failing the class. I mean i'm doing well in this class(especially well if u don't consider the last essay.) But i have forgtten to do this blogg at the right time two to three times. Not mention Analisa told me that blogg commenys need to be 100+ words. Honestly i didn't really know about this until this mourning. But i'm sure it's my own fault honestly i have no idea how i am doing so well in college as of right now i have a 3.6 gpa which is confusing to me. I feel like i keep forgetting to do things and that other studnets are so much more prepared than me. I neeed to buckle down and correct the paper that we were given back i got a 70 on it but fortunaetly i can correct. I love that about college. I wish we had that in high school. I wish i had alot of things in high school.

2006-10-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

I want to know what I'm going to do in my future. To be more specific, I wonder how the rest of my semester is going to go. If it is going like it is now, I think I'll do alright, maybe even pull out a 3.0 average, of course my goal is a 4.0 but with the way Calculus and English are going, it doesn't look like it will happen. I want to know why the B-on time loan is ending and why I have to find some other means of finacial support. I want to know if I will be able to find enough financial aid to cover my costs here at school. I wonder if I will be able to decide on which classes I want to take next year and if the classes I want/need will be availiable. If not, what will happen. I want to know if I will be able to handle the classes I receive next year. I know Rhetoric and Comp. II is required and I've heard it's tough. What sort of teachers will I have, will they be as helpful as the ones I have now. Will I be ready? My grades are the point of concern, the question at hand, the focus of my worries. I hope I'm headed down the right path and that my grades improve instead of worsen. But everyday seems to get a little bit more harder more in depth. My teachers grading is becomes more strenuous for the mistakes made in the past should be learned and fixed. My desire is to learn, but how will I do?

2006-10-23T16:35:00.000-05:00

Ever since I lived in France for a year, I’ve become a chain smoker. I became accustomed to constantly smoking anytime I was at cafés, getting coffee or crepes, walking around town from store to store, to and from bus stops, at bus stops, and eventually with my host mom while sitting on top of our jacuzzi. I brought my new habit back with me to the States, thrilled that cigarette boxes were half the price, but not used to having the evil stares from adults every time I lit one up and then having to eat outside if I wanted one with my meal or coffee. So, when am I going to quit? I can’t chain smoke forever and continue to ignore the fact that I might get cancer. My Dad smoked for eighteen years and my Mom smoked for eleven and both of them seem completely healthy and like they’ve avoided the chances of cancer, but I know cancer is possible for both of them any time in the future. But seeing them so healthy makes me feel better, thinking I’ve only smoked for a year, hardly anything compared to them. I know this has absolutely nothing to do with me and won’t actually determine whether or not I’ll be hit with it, regardless if they are or not. I keep telling myself after my freshman year of college, I’ll quit, but in reality, that’s probably going to be way too hard after two years of chain smoking and I’ll then say at the end of sophomore year, junior year, and so on. My parents and eleven year old brother recently found out about my smoking, although I confessed to only smoking a pack a week as opposed to my four, maybe five. My brother is so worried that I’m going to die and it makes me feel incredibly guilty to put that pressure and worries on him at such a young age, and it’s not like I can tell him don’t worry I won’t die, because I might. This is also super expensive, on top of everything else. So I’m wondering when I’ll finally kick this habit, from either guilt about my brother, going broke, or finally deciding I’ve had enough with them. But I enjoy them so much, especially when there’s nothing else to do or while walking around in this gorgeous weather, so I’m guessing this isn’t happening any time soon.

fine you win

2006-10-23T16:29:00.000-05:00

Why do I feel like my mom and I argue over the randomest things? It’s probably because we do. Our latest one was pretty stupid and menial compared to a lot of things but whatever. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been having issues dressing myself in the morning and I think it is because I’ve worn almost everything I brought with me from home. I’ll take a shower and stand in front of my dorm closets debating what I want to wear for the day. The first thought that always comes to mind is that I want to wear something that is in my closet 1000+ miles away from my dorm so that’s not going to happen. This past weekend a cold front came in and I realized I did not pack any of my warm attire. I called my mom and asked her if I should buy stuff and she said I could but then that conversation turned into an argument about how I should have packed more. This is the person who yelled at me in the airport when two of my suitcases were over in weight by about 10 pounds each. I brought that up and apparently that wasn’t relevant to the argument according to my mom. . .um, okay? I don’t get her sometimes. We argued a little more. It all pretty much didn't make sense. She ended the conversation with allowing me to buy some stuff.

Then I didn’t end up buying anything.

I’m sure my mom was pleased.

2006-10-23T16:06:00.000-05:00

Why am I always so tired?
When I was eight and all the other kids were waking up at nine to go outside and play, I would be sleeping in until at least one in the afternoon.
Now, I can hardly get myself out of bed before six in the evening unless I have a class or an appointment, and even then it's hard, I mean I've already missed my maximum amount of days in all my classes, so if my alarm falters, I'm s.o.l.
Any time of the day I can fall asleep. It really doesn't matter. I have yet to wake up one morning and feel so rested that I can not possibly roll over and continue sleeping for hours. Even after my large coffee somewhere between nine and ten on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, I am dead asleep by eleven, only to sleep until one-thirty, right before I it is necessary for me to wake up before my next class.
I do go to sleep late, but on good days, when I get eight hours of sleep or more i never feel rested.
Maybe I oversleep. i love to get at least twelve hours of sleep a night. but this rarely happens anyways.
maybe if i exercised more. that would probably raise my energy.

i want a simple answer.

apples

2006-10-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

why cant i figure a topic to write about? because. everytime i come up with one. i know the answer to it. why do people worry about their degrees? because they think its important. why are caramel apple pops so damn good? because they are so damn good. why cant i get my sleeping patterns organized? because i fuck it up with naps. and plus, these things are much more important than anything else. im deffinately all about the: what you pay attention to matters and exist. what you dont, doesnt really mean much. because it all depends on the person. another reason i cant figure out what to write is i dont want people to get the wrong idea. i see both sides to all my questions, and i dont want to be bitched just because whoever it is doesnt understand what im trying say. so thats a little tricky. boy i need one hundred more words. that is even trickier. more tricky. and then after this, i have to comment. but, since we are on the subject of sleeping patterns, here is a good college tip. listen and focus:
for a re-charge after a long day, take 20-30 minutes of a nap. if you have more time to sleep longer and think you need it, take a 90 minute or longer nap. this ensures that you complete a full sleep cycle. other wise, waking up after one hour, will you get all confused.
so go out there and take your recharge!

whyyyy?

2006-10-23T12:24:00.000-05:00

Why do we always want to be somewhere or someone we are not? This is something I have recently been struggling with, and I cannot seem to figure it out. When I lived in California, I was ready for a change. I moved to Texas, but then wanted to be back in California. I was so done being in high school and wanted to move to Austin for college. Now I wish I would of gone back to California for school. My best friend moved to Boston to go to MIT, and she was soo excited and so happy and now all she wants to do is come home. I thought going to St Edwards was the right choice, but now I wonder if UT would of been better for me. College was going to be the best time of my life and having no curfew was going to be amazing, but now the best times I have are when I'm at home with my family. I do not know why I do this, or why everyone else does this at times in their lives. But it is shitty. My sister just left her fiance after being together five years because she knew it was the best thing for her, and now all she does is cry and doubt herself. I guess this blog caught me at a negative time, but honestly why can't we all just be happy? My mom is in Africa for three months with starving, HIV-positive babies. And I am sitting here bitching about nothing that really matters.
I think I'm going to drop out of college and move to Uganda.
We all should.