First Half of My Week

So far, my week hasn't been extremely stressful. It's been pretty nice actually. I got to see Mike for lunch on Sunday before I started homework. I finished my CHIPS homework early so I got to relax last night. I sat downstairs with the guys and made fun of the fact that they were still working on their cars. Even though they are obviously much better than my team's is, I was still happy I was done with it. When my dad came down last week, we went to Walgreens, and I got a Care Bears coloring book. While I was sitting downstairs last night, I colored a picture. It was Wish Bear swinging on a swing held up by a star. After I finish this post, I have to go back to homework. I need to finish my Lab Bonus and chemistry homework tonight. Then tomorrow night, I have to start working on my Post Lab. Stupid Engineering!

Last Post of the Week

Ok, so I've finally come to the realization that I need to do blogs throughout the week like I used to. Now, I just cram all of them into one night and hope I have enough interesting things in my life to fill the box. My mind goes blank after one of them, and I have to scrap for the rest. At least I do them I guess. They aren't difficult or anything, but they just take time. I don't like sharing too many things about my life, so blogs don't really fit into my personality! Since this is my last one for the week, I'm going to describe what the rest of my night looks like. With about 10 hours of sleep over 2 nights, I am hoping to be asleep by midnight. To do this, I have to finish this blog, make sure my essay is good to turn in, start my chemistry homework, review for my math test, and hopefully do the written out section of my engineering homework. Needless to say, I'm somewhat busy tonight. One thing I'm grateful for is the fact that my roommate's not here tonight, which allows me to focus much better! Since I have complained enough already, I will let whomever is reading this get back to something more interesting!!!

Excitement and Relaxation of Fall Break

Being one of the many people who stayed for the disappointing Ohio State game over fall break, I didn't get home until Sunday morning. Although disappointing, the game wasn't the only part of my night. After the game, I went out with Torsten, Billy, Carter, some people related to them, and Mike. We went to B-Dubs, which was awesome! After that, Mike drove some people out to 65 and made $80 while the guys and I walked back to Billy's car. We had to go to a parking garage for someone's stuff and saw a do not enter sign on the ground on the way out. What we did wasn't inappropriate........it was already on the ground? Haha, but anyways, after that, we went back to Owen and said our goodbyes. Sunday morning, Mike and I left for home at about 8:30 and somehow made it there by 9:40. I was sleeping, so I'm guessing he was speeding or there was no traffic. I already went through the best thing (house shopping) that happened over fall break last week, so I will spare you the boredom of going through it again! Something just as good as house shopping was what happened afterwards. I went home and took a 3 hour nap. Seeing as I never have time to take naps at school, this was wonderful. Another fun thing that I did was going shopping with my mom on Monday. We always have fun together and have become so much closer since school has started. I got some cute clothes and more stuff to organize my room. I would put a picture up of something, but my camera won't charge and makes me upset!!!

Cedar Point

So yesterday, I woke up at about 3:45 to something completely inappropriate to say in a blog. I had to get up in about 15 minutes and was counting down until my alarm went off. I went and got ready to load the bus at 5. We were off to Cedar Point. At 5 in the morning, it's kind of hard to be really energetic and excited, but I was. 12 hours filled with rides, having fun, and walking. As soon as we got to the park, we ran to the Dragster. We waited for the front row, and it was amazing. By the time I got off the ride, my hair was plastered back against the seat, and Torsten looked even more like Einstein! After that we went and got lunch at Johnny Rockets. Then we went and stood in line for Raptor, which is a very fun ride but probably not quite worth a 2 hour wait. After the Raptor, we stood in line for the new coaster, Maverick. This was one ride that would have been worth a 3 hour wait. When you walk into the line, there is a sign which gets across the point that not all of the cars make it over all of the hills. The car right behind ours got stuck!!! We had to sit and wait by the end of the coaster until they could get it working again. It was so much fun though. When we finally got off, we walked over to a funnel cake place. On the way, there was a Halloween trail with fog lights and scary people and all. I got kind of freaked out! While Torsten and Billy bought funnel cakes, Carter and I went to find a haunted house. When we finally found it after getting lost, we waited for the other two before we got in line. Although I jumped a few times, the haunted house was less scary than the trail. Since we had just under 2 hours left, we ran to the line for Millennium Force. It was a great way to end the night before we had to go spend 5 and a half miserable hours on a bus trying to sleep!

Home home home

Home is where the heart is…

I haven’t been so excited in a long time. I got home this morning at like 9:45. My parents sat down with me, and we ate breakfast. Then, my dad went out to do yardwork, and my mom and I sat and chatted for a while. Even though she came down this past Tuesday, I already missed her by like Thursday. The first few weeks of school, I only talked to her like once or twice a week. Now, I talk to her at least once a day! But back to the day… After we all got ready, we went out to Valpo, just off of Division and started house shopping. I guess they have been going these past few weekends and just didn’t tell me. We went up to this subdivision called Tuscany. There were some gorgeous homes on not so gorgeous lots. I was so excited about this one house. It was amazing. For some odd reason, I discovered that I love rounded corners…I don’t know who came up with the idea, but it’s a great one. It makes the inside look much more finished and professional. I love looking at designs and architecture. So really, I wonder why I’m an engineer…

Honor the true person, not who you want them to be

By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves....We fail to recognize that we could go and do likewise.
--Charles V. Willie

Growing up, whenever I started a new relationship, my mom would always ask me if there was anything I would change about the guy. Of course my answer was always yes…sorry guys, but you’re not perfect, no one is. She would reply by saying that I should break up with him because I shouldn’t have to change someone to like them. Comparing this to the above epigraph, I see many similarities. We, as American citizens have heard many wonderful stories about Helen Keller and the wonderful things she has done. The only reason we believe she is so great is because history books and their writers have chosen to change her background to make her more perfect. Since they aren’t in a “relationship” with her, they feel that they can make any “adjustments” needed to give her the façade of perfection. By doing this, people see her as this angelic figure only doing great things for the nation. We look up to her greatness and feel that we could never measure up. Historians have done the same thing with Woodrow Wilson. They make him look like this great guy, when in reality, he was racist and only did good things by accident.

This epigraph completely summarizes what Loewen was trying to say. Everything that historians have made us believe about these great people forces into our minds the fact that we can never be as great as them. In all truths, we can do better than these “heroes.” Keller and Wilson probably weren’t passionate about as many things as people today that go unnoticed by society. By putting them in the limelight, others feel discouraged as if their cause isn’t good enough.

I agree wholeheartedly with the epigraph and Loewen’s arguments. I too believe that when we idolize someone, we take them out of reality and make them take the characteristics of perfection. This completely defeats the purpose of having someone be your “hero” because you should think of them as being heroic for who they really are, not who you want to make them.

A Few More Peaceful Hours

Wednesday
After turning in CHIPS
Relaxing
Not thinking about homework
Sitting by the engineering fountain
Calmed by the sunlight and cool breeze
Taking time to be myself
Silent, pensive
Watching people
Walking by with mad looks on their faces
Smiling at them
Trying to make their day a little brighter
Watching squirrels
Fighting over food
Which is plentiful in their environment
Wishing my peaceful few hours would never end
Waiting to hustle to my next class
And spend the next 3 hours inside
Until I can be out in the elements again
Until the next round of homework starts
And my mind becomes stressed
And the world doesn't seem as bright
Until I get a few more peaceful hours