Change Is Coming

As hopefully most of you know, Barack Obama is now our first african-american president. I probably should've written about him closer to the election and inaguration, but I guess I kind of put it out of my mind.

When the inaguration was taking place, I was at school. I really wish I would've been able to see what was happening in Washington the whole day, because this event went down in history. Luckly, when Obama and Biden were about to take office, I was in my government class. I have government with Coach White, one of the best teachers I've had. I'm not sure what makes him a good teacher, but I'm able to stay focused and actually learn for the whole class period because he makes it so interesting. Anyways, he's obviously big into politics, and said we were going to watch as much of the inagural process as we could. We watched CNN I think it was, and we saw different views of the millions of people in Washington D.C.. It was amazing to see America come together like we did that day to witness such a life changing event in our history. We watched the prayer take place, WHICH I HATE, Aretha Franklin sing, and the orchestra thing play the song they composed for this event. (I hated the prayer because it's CLEARLY a violation of church and state, which Coach White reminded us about 4 times during the inaguration). I thought the songs were great, and they made the experience that much better.

We got to see Biden and Obama be sworn in, which was cool. I knew right as Obama messed up the words that he was going to get a lot of greif for it, but hey if I was up there in front of that many people I'm sure I would mess up a couple words =] We also got the chance to see Obama's inagural address or whatever it was called, which was amazing. As he started his speech I immediately got goosebumps and the chills. I thought the speech was very well written, and he delivered it with great success. I don't think I would've changed anything about it.

During the election, I was for McCain. I didn't like Obama's ideals at first, but now I've changed my mind. I think Obama has a good head on his shoulders, and knows what he wants to accomplish during his presidency. Now, its just a matter of whether or not he follows through with those ideals. For all of you who did not support Obama during the election, and are still against him now, you need to wake up. Clearly McCain didn't win. Obama is now the president, and there's nothing to do about it. It's time to stop crabbing about the election, and get used to the fact that yes, we do have an Democratic African-American president, and yes he's here for 4 years. I'm sticking with the classic saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." And you should too.

Decisions

The farther along senior year goes, the more decisions I have been having to make. Everyone my age is experiencing this same thing as well. I've been thinking about college and what I'd like to do in the future since about sophomore year, and as time goes on, the pressure keeps building and building. There are so many things I have to consider when looking at colleges, and when deciding where to apply.

The colleges I applied to are only Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. I felt these two colleges had what I am looking for. I visit Mount Mercy as well, but their campus and majors didn't interest me as much as the other schools. During this past summer, before I applied, I visited ISU before UNI. I stayed at the schools during the past few summers for volleyball camps, but this was my first ever college visit, so I didn't know what to expect. I was really nervous, because I thought I would stick out like a sore thumb. The more I thought about it, duh I'm not going to be the only one visiting, and the kids are gonna be just as nervous as I am. As we arrived I looked around at the campus. I was scared because it seemed like it was never ending. This scared me a little. Once I got there, we signed in at a huge building and waited to take a tour with a dozen other applicants and their parents. As we broke off from the tour group, my parents took me around and showed me other places. I thought to myself, this campus isn't that big, I don't think it'd be too bad. When I got home I saw a map and realized we were only walking in about 1/4 of the campus. Once again I was back to being intimidated by the big campus.

My visit at UNI went a lot better. I love their campus because it's a lot smaller, and suits me well. I like the campus a lot, because it's pretty open but still small. Unfortunately though, ISU has the better academic program for what I want to major in: Interior or Architectural Design. So basically if I want a good, solid career, I need to go to Iowa State.

The decision now is if I want to stay in CR for a year and get some of my Gen Eds taken care of while at home, and then go to Iowa State for the rest of college, or if I want to just go straight to Iowa State. My parents say they are behind me whichever one I choose, but I think they really want me to just leave and get out there and go to Iowa State without any hesitations. I personally really want to stay home for another year, because most of my friends are staying here for at least a year or two before they leave the city. I hate to admit it, but Elliott does have an influence on where I go. If we stay together, I'd really like to be here another year with him. Of course my parents don't like the idea of that. It's really going to be a hard decision when I have to actually sit down with my parents and decide.

How Lame Are My Friends.

Title: Jenny Takes A Tumble

Yes, unfortunately these are my friends. I'm glad to say I wasn't there, and didn't partake in any of this madness, but unfortunately I kind of wish I was. I hate to admit it, but we are this goofy on a regular basis, but you know, who cares! I love them.

I Wubb My Girlies

I think friendship is an obvious good thing to have in your life. I know I have the best friends anyone could ask for, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I know they will always be there for me, through the thick and thin. As I said in an earlier post, one of my best friends experienced a terrible tragedy. When this happened, all of us girls who knew about it stuck together and made sure that when she came back, that we would support her and be there as much as she wanted us to be. Not to brag or anything, but I truly think our support system helped her at least a little, knowing she had us behind her. All I really want to say is that I love my friends, and they are the greatest. None of them read this, like ever, but I think they I know I care about them anyways =] [<3]

Song of the Day -- Flavor of the Weak

Another classic. :) Unfortunately this pertains to a friend of mine, who's going through a really hard time. I'll skip the really really sad part, and just cut straight to the really bad part. We'll call my friend Becky, and the guy we'll call David. So basically what happened was David did to Becky was what one may expect. David was a 'typical' guy and used Becky like you wouldn't even believe. Not to be mean to Becky, but she isn't the brightest crayon in the box. He walked all over her and she didn't even realize it. They had talked about dating, but never really got around to it. All was going well, and then my boyfriend told me what kind of guy David really is. ((My boyfriend plays basketball with David, so he told me a lot of what he says)) David was going around to the basketball team saying he "got some blonde booty". At this point, my friends and I all realized David isn't really the guy he comes off as. We asked Becky if the rumors were true, and she constantly denied it. We began warning her about him, telling her to get away from him because he isn't a nice guy. And yet, Becky still talked to David and gave him rides everywhere, and catered to his every need. Later, my boyfriend told me that David was asked if he was dating Becky and he simply said "I'd never date THAT." At this point, frustration turned into anger. It was obvious he was using Becky. My friends and I told her and told her and told her again, you have to stop talking to him and seeing him, because all you are to him is a booty call. We were tired of being positive, hoping their relationship would grow. David was not a good influence and person for Becky to be around, and it was time to do something about it....

An unfortunate event took place recently with Becky that I cannot talk about, but my friends and I do place some of the blame on David. How he treated Becky had finally caught up to her, and took a big toll on her. I hope now Becky realizes what kind of person David truly is, and will stay away from him for good. If not, I have a feeling my friends and I will have to go to him, telling him to leave her alone or we'll do something about it.

Oh and I just received some more news about David today. Apparently he already has a 'thing' with another girl. Also sounds like he's using her too. I don't know if this is true, but man I sure feel bad for the girl.

Song of the Day -- Steal My Sunshine

So my song of the day is Steal My Sunshine by Len. I'm pretty sure this song is a classic to anyone who grew up in the 90's. It's hard to believe this song is almost 10 years old. I would've completely forgotten about this song except I heard it on my local radio station, Z102.9. When I was growing up, I didn't listen to the lyrics of songs at all, just liked songs with catchy beats or cool instruments.

As I have probably said in earlier blogs, I'm not too deep when it comes to interpreting lyrics or and kind of writing. It just isn't a talent of mine. When I was younger I probably thought this was a happy fun kind of song because of the beat and the happy tone they sing in, but when I read the lyrics now that changes my mind a little. In the first verse, the guy talks about drugs and how he missed out on important things in life because he was too busy getting stoned. Then in the second verse after the chorus, the girl talks about slurpy treats, and I have absolutely have no idea what's going on. There probably is a hidden meaning, but right now nothing's coming to me. For now I'm going to keep seeing this song as I did when I was little, ignoring the awkwardly weird lyrics that come along with it.

Video Game Obsession

Lately it seems as if the video game obsession has worn of for many guys. Well at least I don't hear about it as much as when all of the Halo games came out. Of course I'm not saying people don't play video games, it just seems the hype isn't up anymore.

Oh what am I talking about, of course it's still there. It's there, and pretty apparent. With all of these new games and systems coming out, video games is all my boyfriend ever talks about. For Christmas, he got an XBox 360, and almost every chance he gets, he plays it. He also got a lot of money for Christmas, and managed to save up enough to buy Guitar Hero World Tour (with the drums and mic included). I can always tell when he's playing this game because it takes him about 3 or 4 minutes to respond to every text I send him. It usually doesn't bother me, but when we are trying to have a serious conversation and he responds in between songs, that irritates me a little. Put down the damn guitar for like 5 minutes, seriously. I think it's safe to say video games have slowly taken over the minds of most teenage boys' minds.