Weather :/

So basically this weather really sucks! I hate how it gets so warm then it gets extremely cold the NEXT day! I didn't mind it all that much but now that there is a ton of ice everywhere it is making it really hard to walk or run outside without slipping. I wish that I lived in Cali. I was going to transfer there next year but in all the Cali schools that I looked at you have to have a Jr standing to apply for transfer; so instead, I am transferring to a place that is even colder then MN, Madison WI. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited to go there and all but lets just say, it's no California. I still think that I will end up there though because I really want to become a marine biologist. To do that I obviously need to live by an ocean of some sorts. Im not exactly sure what I want to do as a marine biologist yet though, there were a couple of things that I am interested in. I am interested in taking pictures of coral and underwater life, saving animals such as seals, training dolphins, and much more. I am going to meet with an adviser at WI over spring break and try to decide what my major should be for now since we do not have Marine Biology here. I think I will probably end up majoring in Biology or Zoology for now but I am not sure.

Being a college student is rough. Between deciding on a major and career path and balancing your work and personal life it gets a little tough at times. Currently I am completely out of money so I was extatic when I got a call from the clothing store, New York & Co. I am to go to an interview on Monday and we will see from there! It is kind of weird because I applied for jobs about a month ago and it took the places this long to get back to me. I had an interview at the Y recently and I got the job but I decided to turn it down because the hire was mainly for Saturday mornings teaching swimming lessons and I do not want to give up playing rugby and going to see my friends and boyfriend. So when I got the call yesterday it really made me feel a lot better for turning down the other job.

A Book That Changed My Perspective

Lance Armstrong's It's not about the bike: My journey back to life truly changed my perspective on life. Before reading the book I knew about Armstrong but not to the extent that I did after reading his book. He is a very strong individual that fought his way back to the top after having cancer. All the way through his cancer he rarely showed a sign of weakness and he always did whatever he could to make the cancer go away, whether that meant eating certain food or getting the best specialist possible. After reading the book it made me feel stupid for being down on myself at all because there are plenty of people who have it worse off then me. If Armstrong can build his self up from virtually nothing then surely I can keep my head up after a loss of a track race or of a favored pet. This book was very inspirational and it was hard to put it down. He makes you want to do something extraordinary with your life. Anyone really can do anything they want, I will never doubt that again after reading Lance Armstrong's book.

On another topic, EVERYONE is getting sick including me. One of my friends that lives in gage said that literally everyone on her floor is sick with the flu and now it's really starting to spread. At first my roommate and I thought that people were getting sick now instead of the middle of the winter. We decided that so many people are probably sick because of the changing weather, the fact that it can be super warm one day then freezing and snowing the next really does a tole on a person. We just wish the snow would go away! I tried going to rugby practice yesterday but i ended up having to leave early because I thought I was going to throw up. At least winter is almost over though. I wish I could go to Florida like my sister for spring break! She is lucky, I do not have enough money to do that so I am just going to the U to see my friends then going to Madison to see my boyfriend. It should still be pretty fun though.

Media affecting my world

First of all, today is my birthday whooo! Actually im not that excited because it is not really a monumental changing of age, only 18 to 19 but what the heck, whoo!

All my life some type of media has been influencing me whether it was Blues Clues or it was De Vince Code. Almost as soon as we are born new media is brought into our lives. At first our parents do the best they can to screen what we see, therefore what influences us, but as we get older the screening becomes less and less. I have been choosing what to watch on TV, what movies to go to, and what music I want to listen to for quite sometime now. I believe that almost everything I have seen or heard has had some impact on my life, it may not be a huge impact all of the time but that does not really matter. The rapper that has really touched me the most would be Lil Wayne. He grew to where he is today all on his own. Starting out in the poorest part of New Orleans he talked himself into a recording studio to create his first album at age 12. Since then he has gone through very hard times and he makes his music portray his life. Even though Lil Wayne has made it big and is no longer poor he still has not forgotten where he came from. When the hurricane hit he donated money to a park that he used to play on as a child. Recently I went to one of his concerts and that showed me just how much he loves his music and how much he cares about the things in his songs. Some of the songs that he is known for are not the songs I am necessarily talking about. Most of the songs that most people see, the people that do not know anything of Lil Wayne past the songs that are on the radio, are not the songs I am talking about. Lollipop is a good song but it is not one of his deepest so often people think that he is just a vulgar rapper and has no meaning behind his songs but they are very wrong. His latest tour is called the I am Music tour and that is just it, he is his music, all his songs are about him and portray his life.

Randomness

The other day I met this girl in my Psychology class and she seemed normal and fun for the most part. We talked of how we havent really found a set group yet here at MSU and exchanged numbers. Coming into class the next day I sat by her and we began to talk. It was not until then that it really hit me how different peoples life stories can be and how everyone has insecurities or has had hard times in their lives. My friend, we'll call her Daisy, explained to me how her dad was sick so she was living at home this year an hour and a half away. I was surprised when she told me this so I asked how her dad got sick and she told me how her 17 year old brother had killed himself this past summer and how her father became extremely depressed. Hearing this I did not know what to say next because I have never really been put in a situation like this. Trying to meander away from the subject I began to talk about sports and asked if she had played in any in high school. She told me she was in a few then told me how she is "kind of" addicted to exercising. Apparently she runs 10 miles a day then goes on the bike then lifts. Even when it was freezing out she ran outside. I hate how there is a constant pressure from today's media that says that teenagers, women in particular, must be perfect and not have an ounce of fat.