70. Letter

Dear future English students,

My best advice that I can give you in order to do well in this class would be to do all of your work. Blogging will seem like the most impossible task when it is first presented to you. Take the process one day at a time. Make sure you turn all of your blogs in on time and it is helpful to do a few blogs ahead of time during the week so that you are not stuck writing them on Friday and Saturday when you will probably be thinking about other things. I would also recommend going to the Writing Center. The people there are very nice and most importantly helpful. At one point this quarter I was completely overwhelmed with my ARP and I went there because I didn’t know what else to do. They sat down with me and helped to organize my thoughts to better structure my paper. Not to mention you will get an extra credit point every time you go to the Writing Center. Also it is important to come to class in order to get advice from your teacher and also your classmates. Peer editing and reviews can be very helpful when working on your final draft. Commenting is another aspect that I thought would be impossible. One hundred comments seems like it would take forever. My advice would be to do the majority during the second half of the quarter because those blogs are more interesting and easy to comment on. Good Luck!

69. Anything (7)

This is my final blog to write about anything that I want. I went out last night for possibly the last time this school year and for some reason parkstreet was absolutely packed! Luckily it was really nice out and not raining so my friends and I stayed at the outside area for the most part. After we got a cab back to the dorm we changed clothes and went to TACOHUT. The police who sit there all night long must see the most interesting people walk through there. Today I will probably end up sleeping most of the day, but hopefully I will get some homework done. I am leaving for Chicago in the morning for a mini weekend vacation. I’m sad that the Bulls lost last night because now they won’t be playing Saturday while I’m in Chicago. Monday I am going to a Memorial Day cook out with Kristen’s family, which will be fun, but I feel like I have already written about all of these things. Oh well this is my last blog so I think it is okay if I just ramble about nothing the entire time. Only four more school days left by the way. This year has flown by so quickly. All I know is that winter quarter was so miserable and getting up at 7 in the morning to walk ten minutes to class in the snow took some serious motivation! Luckily it is summer now so I won’t have to see snow for a long time!

68. Anything (6)

This coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend. All of the pools open and summer official begins or at least weather wise. We will still have week ten of the quarter and then exam week. When I think of Memorial Day I think of swimming, hanging out with family and neighbors, and grilling out. This weekend I am going to Chicago with my friend Allison for her cousin’s graduation party. We are driving up Saturday morning and spending the day downtown. We will probably go out for a nice dinner and spend the day shopping. That night I think we are going to go out with her cousin. Sunday we are going to the graduation party, which should be fun because they always have the best food. We are driving back to Ohio when the party is over. On Monday I am going to Sunberry to hang out with my love Kristen! We are going to go to her grandma’s house for a cook out; I’m so excited. I cant wait to see her mom and dad because I miss them terribly and hopefully Fletcher wont lick all of the lip gloss off of my face again this time. Another good thing about this weekend is that there will be no school on Monday! That means only four days until exam week! I am so ready for this school year to be over and done with, not that I don’t love it here, but summer vacation is much needed.

67. Anything (5)

For this blog I am going to talk about how I really like music. You can basically find a song that describes how you are feeling at any moment. Listening to music with the windows down in the summer is something I always look forward to or while your getting ready in the mornings music will wake me up. Here are some of my favorite songs’ lyrics.

California King Bed, Crystal Baller, and Last Kiss.

Chest to chest, Nose to nose Palm to palm

We were always just that close

Wrist to wrist

Toe to toe

Lips that felt just like the inside of a rose

So, how come when I reach out my finger

It feels like more than distance between us

In this California king bed

We're ten thousand miles apart

I've been California wishing on these stars

For your heart for me

My California king

I close my eyes and I see a freak, I think it's me and I'm afraid to speak

I keep on going from week to weakness way out in a line.

I dream of lives we could have had before, but the heat is broke down open doorways.

Friends of yours will tell me more what happens in your mind

Can we try and take the high road though we don't know where it ends

I want to be your Crystal Baller

I want to show you how it ends

But now I'll go sit on the floor wearing your clothes

All that I know is I don't know

How to be something you miss

Never thought we'd have a last kiss

Never imagined we'd end like this

Your name, forever the name on my lips

66. Anything (4)

Today is Saturday and it is extremely nice outside. The weather is perfect. My family came today which I have been waiting for! They were only able to stay for a few hours though because my little brother had a soccer game later on. They came and picked me up and then we went to Champs and got some food. I got a peanut butter milkshake and it was so delicious. I have an ice cream addiction and it’s getting out of control. I go to get ice cream at least once or twice a day. I get Mcflurrys or I go to UDF for some ice cream. I buy pints of it at CVS and last night I finally got me some Cold Stone, which I have been wanting for forever. Next time you go get banana ice cream mixed with some strawberry ice cream. Then have them add an actual banana into the mix. The banana will freeze a little bit and it’s so good. The other day I went with a few of my friends to a place called Cuzzins or something like that and it has frozen yogurt which sounds gross but it basically tastes like ice cream. You go through a line and they put whatever you want on it and then weigh it at the end for you to pay.  Anyways I miss my family already and can’t wait until summer when I can be home with them for a much longer time. Be safe tonight and don’t get too CHITTY!

65. Anything (3)

Finals are coming up really soon and I fell like I have so much to do it is ridiculous. Millions of papers to write and thousands of quizzes and exams to study for is what it feels like at least. I keep trying to get ahead on all of my work so that I am not stressed or cramming at the last minute, but when it is this close to the end of the year it is difficult to find the motivation.  It makes it even harder when I see all of my friends from back home who are already on summer vacation. They are going out every night and all taking trips to the beach and I still have three more weeks of this! I am dreading the day I have to move out of my dorm. My roommate and I have been living out of this single room since September; it will be weird going back to living a normal life in a house with a kitchen and a living room and my own bedroom all to myself. I won’t have to wear flip-flops in the shower anymore, which will be the most amazing thing because I still get grossed out every time I have to shower at the dorms. My mom will start doing my laundry again and I won’t have to risk my entire load of laundry being dyed pink again hopefully! Although there are good things about leaving school and the dorms I will miss everyone over the summer!

64. Anything (2)

It finally Thursday and I am done with classes for the day! I’m pretty excited because in English today Leslie let us know that we won’t be having class the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend which is pretty sweet. Keith you weren’t in class today so don’t show up on that Tuesday or you will be all alone. I’m going out to dinner tonight, like a real dinner and not campus food! Yay! Tomorrow morning I have to wake up super early and sit through nearly two hours of an anatomy lecture and then it’s the weekend! I’m going to Mirror Lake after class to meet my friends and get a breakfast sandwich. Also Friday night our entire floor is going to see that new movie that just came out, Bridesmaids. I heard that its good and it looks hilarious. On Saturday my parents are coming to hang out with me! I miss them so much so I’m really excited. I’m thinking Sunday will be an all day study day because I have a ton of papers to write and I should probably get started sooner rather than later. Also the Greys Anatomy season finale is tonight and its probably going to be amazing. Oh I almost forgot to talk about ice cream. I have been crazing cold stone ice cream for the past two weeks and no one will go with me! After the movie on Friday I am going to go no matter what, even if I have to go alone. 

63. Anything

So for the first time we are able to blog about anything we want. I know this might be boring, but I’m just going to blog about everything I did today because that sounds easy and quick. First I woke up at 7 to my alarm going off and I immediately pushed snooze. I didn’t actually get my self out of bed until 7:30. I went to anatomy lecture and learned about the heart. The whole time I was thinking about how extremely hungry I was. Afterwards I met with my roommate at Oxley’s like we always do and I got a bagel and a fruit and yogurt parfait. We talked and then I had theatre. Theatre is usually boring and I write down what I see on the PowerPoint but I don’t retain any information from lecture. I walked home and it was surprisingly not that cold out today and for once it was not raining. After creeping on facebook for a good 20 minutes I went to the gym. After I got home and showered I took a much-needed nap. I woke up and walked to Jimmy Johns for food even though I should be using my swipes. I’m just so sick of campus food and I was craving a sub. I came back and to avoid doing homework I watched Shutter Island. The movie was really long and kind of freaky, but overall it was pretty good. Sorry again for boring you with the play by play of my day.

62. Fear

Death is so scary to me. I have never had anyone who I am extremely close to except for my great grandmother. I few years ago she passed away in her sleep at age 102. I was able to find peace with her death because I felt she wasn’t living comfortably. Besides my great grandmother I have not been close to anyone who has died. Thinking about what I would do without my mom or dad literally makes me have anxiety. I cannot fathom life without either one of them. My siblings are another thing. Without them I do not think I could go on living. People must be so strong because people have to deal with death everyday. I just don’t see how anyone could find the strength to go on after something so tragic, but somehow they do.  Enough talking about that depressing topic though. Today was the first semi nice day all week. Everyday it has been rainy and freezing cold, which I just don’t understand. It is the middle of May and it is thirty something degrees out. This weekend it is supposed to be sunny, so I am looking forward to that. Also I think my parents are coming to get dinner with me on Saturday so I’m excited! I miss them so much.  Saturday night is Chitfest. Hopefully this time no one including me will get maced or tear-gassed or whatever that stuff was because let me tell you it was not pleasant.

61. Economy

Something that is happening in the world that concerns me would probably be the economy. So many people lost their jobs a few years back when everything crashed and burned. I remember all of the people I knew who had a move to smaller houses or sell some of their things because money issues got so bad. At the time I thought it was only a temporary crisis and that everything would go back to normal. I was clearly wrong considering our economy is just as shitty today. It is extremely hard for anyone to find a job these days. At my old middle school and high school they had to let a ton of teachers go because they could not afford to have them any longer. My old middle school doesn’t offer art or chorus any more and they are getting rid of all of the sports teams. Busing is also being taken away so parents will have to drive their children to school. I feel bad for my little brother and sister because all of this is happening and they are stuck dealing with the consequences of it all. Gas prices are so high right now. I think I heard they are over four dollars or at least close to that amount. That is just crazy. Basically I won’t be taking any joy rides this summer just for the fun of it.  I really hope in the near future that our economy improves and things can go back to how they used to be.

60. Time Period

I have always felt like I would like to live in the 60’s or 70’s. Everyone seemed to be so carefree. Peace was the goal on everyone’s mind. People wore bright crazy outfits. Although everyone was on psychedelic drugs half the time that could have been a fun experience. I could see myself as a hippy with long wavy hair with no care in the world. In one of my other classes I am doing a project based off the 80’s. We are doing a hip-hop aspect of that time and are referring to The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire. I love that show by the way, their parachute pants and big poufy hair seems like it could have been a fun look. The windbreaker jackets and big boom boxes are what come to mind. I’m going to have the Fresh Prince theme song stuck in my head all day! I think it is crazy how fashion seems to come in circuits. All of the old fashion trends are now being sold in all of our stores. Living in the future could also be fun as long as global warming hasn’t completely destroyed the earth. I cannot even imagine the technology in the future. I don’t see how we can get any more advances than we already are. I hope we would have a cure to cancer and any other disease. People could live longer, healthier, more fulfilling lives. Maybe we will find life on some other planet or someone will catch big foot.  

59. Mistake

The biggest mistake I ever made. I honestly cannot think of one big life-changing mistake that I have made. I really don’t regret anything I have done in life. Even the horrible things I have done or all of the bad decisions I have made: I wouldn’t take them back. I see mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow. I could sit here and think about all of the things I wish I could of done or what I should of done. What would be the point in that? Humans are programmed to mess up and to try again. Practice makes perfect. No one can expect to get it right on the first try. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I put more effort into that relationship or if I would have never stopped playing volleyball when I was younger. I guess I will never know what could have been. I feel like my life is exactly how it should be at this moment. I am finishing up my freshman year of college and I made it into my major.  I have summer jobs lined up and plans to get tan, spend time with my family, and go to as many country concerts as I possibly can. I have no complaints. I am a nineteen-year with my whole life ahead of me and plenty of mistakes to be made. The future is unknown and that can be exciting, who knows what life will throw at me.

56. Best Friend

My roommate and I get along great. I honestly don’t know any other person who gets along with their roommate as much as I do with mine. I knew her from high school in Cincinnati. The funny thing is, we used to hate each other’s guts. One day when we realized we had a common enemy, we started talking and realized we had a lot in common. Ever since that day we have been great friends. We both seem to understand how each other think in a way that no one could understand. If we happen to get into minor petty fights, we end up hugging it out and getting over it within a few hours. We both have similar thoughts views, and opinions. Some nights we will stay up until three in the morning talking about philosophy or religion. I don’t exactly know what sparks these conversations but we like our random late night deep conversations. We like the same shows and always watch eps in her bed when we have free time. It’s like roomie bonding. We get breakfast together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning where we sit and talk about whatever is on our mind. I’m so happy that we decided to room together this year and although we were close before we came to school we are definitely much closer now. I cant wait until this summer when we drive around with the windows down, go to Sonic late night for some ice cream, and the Rascal Flatts concert!

55. Favorite Place

My bed is the most comfortable place in the world. It may not be my favorite but it comes close. When I am having a horrible day and I feel like crying, I can lie in bed and turn on some Taylor Swift music and just cry. When its wintertime and I’m absolutely freezing cold I can snuggle up under all of the layers of blankets to stay warm. When it’s a nasty, dark, rainy day outside I always feel like getting some chocolate or popcorn or possibly both. Then I proceed to lie in my bed and catch up on missed episodes or maybe watch a movie. When I spend all night at a bar or I don’t know getting tear gassed by a bunch of cops and my whole face feels like its on fire, my bed is there for me when I am ready to crash at four in the morning. Days when I’m sick I can lay in bed all day long while my mommy makes me chicken noodle soup. My bed is a place where my friends sit with me and we can gossip or tell stories to each other. My bed is multipurpose and can be used in almost any situation. That reminds me of the YouTube video “How to Avoid Talking To People You Don’t Want to Talk To.” The video is hilarious. You should all watch it. I tried to put the link below this but I don’t know if it will work.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JennaMarbles#p/u/18/8wRXa971Xw0

54. GAME

I love this game. We used to always play it when you are first meeting people as an icebreaker.

Story 1: I have had two back surgeries and my back is being held together by a collaboration of screws and rods. I have a walker at home, but I don’t bring it to class because then you guys will make fun of me for sure.

Story 2: I am related to Pocahontas. My family tree was traced back hundreds of years and my Grandfather showed it to me when I was a kid. I think you can totally see the resemblance.

Story 3: My favorite singer is Kenny Chesney. Don’t hate because he is bald, he is still hot. His music makes me melt. My sister and me are trying to get tickets for his concert this summer! Yay.

Which one of these is false? Lets see who can guess correctly.

By the way I just read my three stories to a kid who is sitting next to me in the lobby of my building. He guessed which one was right. That always happens to me. I don’t think I am very good at this game. There are games that I am amazing at though and I will never lose at. I am really good at Clue and I refuse to play unless I am Ms. Scarlet. I always figure out the murderer first. Taboo is another game that I love and I am extremely skillful at it. It is really fun if you guys have never played!

53. Word

Food. I love food and I love eating. I read tonight’s prompt and the first word that came to my mind was “food” and so that’s what I am going to blog about. In the morning when I wake up I am thinking about how much I wish I could go back to sleep and then how hungry I am. Breakfast sandwiches from Mirror Lake are amazing. Lunchtime comes around and my belly is growling during class. I might go to Oxley’s for a veggie pita or maybe the union for a make your own yogurt parfait, which I have down to a science by now. Some days when I don’t feel like campus food I will go to Subway or maybe some Noodles and Company. Dinnertime comes around and some cheese tortellini from the RPAC sounds pretty tasty or maybe some sushi from Marketplace. On the weekends when I have time I like to go out to a nice dinner and get some Mexican food or Eddie Georges. I especially like when my parents visit because I know I’m about to get a good meal. Any place that serves fried pickles is okay in my book. At night when I’m up late I always get hungry again. Sometimes a bag of popcorn suffices. Other times my cravings are out of control and I need to run to CVS for some Reeses or to UDF for some ice cream. I would recommend Taco Hut to anyone who is looking for a late night meal. It’s the best of both worlds.

51. Major

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a nurse. I love helping people and have always had an interest in medicine. Putting two and two together I came up with nursing. I also have an extremely unhealthy obsession with babies. I decided I wanted to be a neo-natal nurse. I applied to Ohio State and was accepted into the Pre-Nursing program. We had to take a survey class for our major during the autumn quarter. During this class they made us make a list of alternate options for our future if we did not make it into the Nursing program. You could choose to reapply the following year, switch your major at OSU, or transfer schools to a different nursing program. I was nervous that I would not make it into the program and had absolutely no clue what I was going to do if I didn’t get it. I was freaking out about the application for weeks and proceeded to wait until the night before it was due to turn it in. Luckily I got accepted into the program and I am looking forward to next year. I have heard that your sophomore year classes are really tough and time consuming. Also I was a little annoyed that I wasn’t allowed to schedule my own classes for next year. The College of Nursing schedules my classes for me and I have no say in the decisions. Ill probably get stuck with a horrible schedule full of night classes, but in the end it will all be worth it! 

50. Meeting Anyone

There are so many people throughout history who have done incredible things. If I could pick someone, anyone at all to meet, my initial thought would be Lil Wayne. I love his music and I’m obsessed with his voice. Once I thought about it I realized I would probably not have that great of a time with Weezy Baby. First off I’m sure he would be on drugs and I don’t know maybe sitting around sippin on his purple drank? So then I thought I could meet someone who was dead and that could allow me to meet anyone in my family that I never got the chance of knowing. My grandparents, close family and friend are all still alive which I’m thankful for, but I needed to think of someone else. The I thought it would be really neat to meet someone who died in an unfortunate unsolved way, someone who died and the murder got away. The first person that came to my mind was Marilyn Monroe. She was found dead in her home and they later found that she died of being poisoned. Some think that it was suicide and she purposely ended her life while others believed she was murdered. Marilyn Monroe’s death has become one of the most debated conspiracy theories. If I had the opportunity to meet her I could simply ask her what happened and why. There are so many things that people will never know. People die and their secrets die with them. 

49. Dream

I’m not quite sure why, but I can never sleep at night. I honestly think I’m an insomniac. I have even tried taking melatonin pills, which are supposed to trigger your natural hormones and Nyquil to make me drowsy, but neither seems to help. Because I never sleep at night I am always dead tired during the day, therefore I always nap. Whenever I’m napping I always have really weird dreams. Do you ever have a dream and when you wake up your not sure if it was real or not? It happens to me all the time. I wake up in a panic confused about whether it happened or not. I also freak out when I have an important exam or quiz in the morning. I really can’t sleep those nights because I’m afraid I will over sleep and miss what ever I have to do the next day. My dreams are always really weird and never make any sense to me. I can remember them for the most part after I wake up and I think it is because I am an extremely light sleeper. I have an unhealthy obsession with babies because they are the cutest things in the world. The other night I had a dream that someone was holding a baby and when they handed the baby to me I realized it was a furless cat. I am aware that my dreams are weird and this one was particularly gross because I cannot stand cats especially naked ones. 

48. Nature

I don’t know if a sunset or a sunrise is considered something in nature, but I think that they are gorgeous to look at. Watching the sun go down at night makes the sky turn to shades of purples, pinks, and blues. The sun coming up in the morning looks like layers of yellows, oranges, and reds. When I’m at the beach I will get up extra early just to watch the sun come up. I also love the sand at the beach. Siesta Key has the prettiest white sand that doesn’t get hot and burn your feet. I love walking in the sand and finding all different types of seashells. I also enjoy walking on the beach with my feet in the ocean. The waves come crashing onto shore making the water look white where it comes in contact with the sand. Looking out at the ocean, it looks like it goes on forever. Another aspect of nature that I enjoy are spring flowers. I love when I’m walking and I can smell flowers all around me. Not to mention how pretty and unique all of the colorful flowers are. Trees can be quite massive and are a wonderful source of shade. I enjoy sitting underneath them for picnics or naps. They can be used for tree houses or hammocks. In Florida you can go to an orchard and walk through miles of orange trees. Fruit trees are also beautiful because they are colorful and they have the freshest fruit. 

47. Crush

I moved back to Cincinnati in eighth grade from living in Kentucky for three years. In the small town of Madisonville, Kentucky I went to a tiny catholic school with 12 kids in my entire graduating class. Basically there were no potential prospects for me to have a crush on. When I moved back to Ohio I was thrown into a class of 600 students. There was a boy who played football and basketball, had the cutest baby face and all the girls had crushes on him. Nick could be described as the “popular” kid.  My best friend had art with him and told me that he liked me. I liked him too, but was still a little antisocial from when I lived in Kentucky. Eventually we started talking and actually hanging out. One day before homeroom he asked me if I would go to the eighth grade formal with him and of course I say that I would. We wore matching coral outfits and we looked adorable. After the dance I was in the hallway waiting for my parents to come pick me up. Nick walked up to me and asked if he could have a hug goodbye. Right as I finished giving him a hug he said, “and a kiss.” Although I know it sounds kind of lame, that was when I had my first kiss. Nick and I are still really good friends and I always joke with him about how he “asked” me for a kiss. Today is his birthday too so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

46. Pet Peeves

There are many little things that can get on my nerves. I absolutely cannot stand when I go to get food with someone and then they take two bites and say they are finished eating. It makes me feel like a fatty because of course I’m going to finish all of my food. I hate when girls or even guys are fake to each other. They will talk crap about someone behind their back and then go up to that person and act like they are best friends. People who have to update their facebook status constantly with pointless information about what they are doing every second of the day annoy me. I really don’t care to know the play by play of your daily life. I can’t stand when someone is sleeping next me and they make weird noises with their mouths, almost as if they are swooshing around their spit or something. I will wake you up if you are doing this because it’s flat out disgusting. Also when I’m eating with someone and they bite their fork with their teeth to get the food off of it instead of using their lips, it makes the worst noise. My older sister does this and I always call her out about it. Which reminds me, I don’t really like when people call me out or call others out just to make them feel dumb! I feel much better after writing this blog. I kind of feel like I used this to vent so sorry!

45. Trip

When I was a senior in high school I could not wait until my spring break! I was going to Panama City Beach with four of my girlfriends and five guys. We got the cutest yellow and blue house that was right on the beach. In the backyard there was a swimming pool and a huge back porch where we grilled out for dinner some nights. The boys would sit back there at night and play the guitar. This trip was especially fun because there were absolutely no parents and we could do whatever we wanted. The freedom was nice and refreshing. We would wake up in the mornings and head to the beach for the day. The weather was nice everyday. We would lie out and play sand volleyball. Some nights we would get dressed up and go out to a nice seafood restaurant. At night we would either go out or have a party at our house. That week in April was also spring break week for many of the other high schools near mine. Therefore I knew so many people from Cincinnati who were also vacationing in Panama City. The worst part of the trip was on the first night there, a guy who went to a school by mine got extremely drunk. He fell off the balcony at the Days Inn and died instantly. It was a really scary experience and made me very cautious and smart for the rest of the trip. Overall though, spring break was amazing!

43.Presents

My most recent birthday was my nineteenth birthday. My family came to visit me at school for the day, which I loved. They brought me groceries and some presents that they thought I would like. My favorite presents were the ones that my siblings got for me. My little brother who is only eleven bought me a single red rose. It was adorable and I could tell how excited he was to give it to me. My little sister made me a scrapbook. It was definitely better than anything I could ever make. It had pages from when we were younger and pages from trips that we had gone on. There were funny captions and inside jokes throughout it. I could tell she must have spent hours on it. My oldest sister couldn’t come visit because she had an important project due the next day. She gave me parents a gift to give to me when they got here. My sister, who was stressed out with her project, found the time to make me a birthday dress. She is a fashion design major in the DAPP program at University of Cincinnati. The dress she made literally was amazing. The sides were made of a purple, blue and green pattern and down the middle was solid purple with a layer of black mesh fabric over top. The back fancy and if you pulled the straps a certain way, the dress would adjust to fit you perfectly. All of these gifts from my family meant the world to me.

42. My Job

I’ve been babysitting for as long as I can remember. I realized how much I loved kids when my little brother and sister were born. Over the years I transitioned from babysitter to nanny. It s funny how close and connected I feel to the kids I watch; they are my kiddies or that’s what I like to call them at least. During the school year I wait at their bus stop when they get home from school. We do their homework and learn all of their spelling words. For dinner I have to make sure they have a balanced meal, but some nights ill take them out for ice cream or we will bake cookies. We practice volleyball serves and use erasers for Brett to practice his football positions. On hectic nights we are rushing around trying to find KK’s favorite leotard and we somehow manage to get Brett to basketball practice on time. In the Summer I spend ten hours a day with them; from the moment they wake up until after they eat dinner. They are like my family and at times we fight like families do. They throw temper tantrums and refuse to get in the car for gymnastics or have quarrels over silly bands. I miss them when I’m here at school and visit them when I go home for the weekend. This summer I have two families that I am going to nanny for. Basically I will have a full schedule all day everyday, but it will be worth it. There are not many people who can say they love their job, but I can truly say that I do!

41. Culture

My roommate here at Ohio State is a friend from back in Cincinnati. She is half Asian and half Caucasian. Her father who is Chinese grew up in India. Every time I go to her house I either try some new Indian or Asian food that I probably wouldn’t be able to pronounce. Now at school I live in the international dorm. There are girls on my floor from Sweden, Russia, and also China. The Chinese culture has always fascinated me. On Chinese New Years which is on a different day than it is in America, a girl named Summer who lives a few doors down came to my room and started dumping handfuls of candy and chocolate on my desk. She told me that they would bring me good luck in the coming year. I have learned many new customs and traditions from the Chinese culture by living in this dorm. This year on November 11^th (11/11) I was talking to Tom who lives on the floor above me. He seemed a little down and when I asked him why he explained that it was “Singles Day.” It is a holiday for people who are still single to celebrate. He was sad that he did not have a girlfriend and that he would be celebrating this holiday. Many girls on the floor wash their clothes in the sinks in the bathroom and hang them up in their rooms to dry even though there is a laundry room downstairs. Although they now live in America, They stay true to their culture. I think it is important to be diverse, to be open to other cultures and customs and to learn as much as you can about them!

40. Family Member

Being at college, an hour and a half away from home has made me realize how much I appreciate my family. I have always been very close to my family, gone to my siblings sporting events, and helped out around the house (probably while complaining). After being away from all of this I have grown to miss it. I get sad thinking that I won’t be able to watch my little brother’s baseball games or didn’t get to go to one of my little sister’s track meets. Doing dishes or laundry when I’m home to visit doesn’t feel like a chore anymore; I always want to help out around the house. My parents are like my guidebook through life. They encourage me when I’m down and give me advice when I’m lost. I swear my dad knows everything about everything. I’m not quite sure how, but always knows how to answers to my questions, how to fix things, and even how to tell when I’m lying. Every time I have a bad day I call them and somehow they make it feel better. When I’m sick the thing I want most is to be at home watching a movie and eating soup with my mama.  She is the nicest person you will ever meet; I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like her. She is always thinking about others, putting other’s needs before her own. She has four kids constantly pulling her all different directions; always needing something from her. She somehow manages to comply with all of our requests. She always makes me laugh, usually not on purpose, but when she tries to shake her head with an attitude or ‘snap’ because she didn’t know that wasn’t “cool” anymore it always makes my day. I hope she has a wonderful mother’s day and truly knows how much she is appreciated and loved. She is the best mom in the entire world!

39. Grammer Rules

A grammar rule that I always mess up is using commas. I know that it seems like the easiest thing but when I’m writing I kind of feel like commas could be placed almost anywhere. I also think it depends on who is writing the paper and where they want to place emphasis. I also never know when I’m listing out things whether or not to add a comma before the last object on the list. I think that as long as you are consistent throughout the paper you are safe to decided whether or not to place them at the end of lists. I remember in class on the day we discussed grammar that there were two different ‘camps.’ As long as you are constantly following the same set of rule you should be fine. I know this doesn’t have anything to do with grammar rules but I am absolutely terrible at spelling. I think that technology has allowed me to get lazy. I don’t even think when I’m typing or texting and my iphone or laptop automatically correct my spelling errors without me even knowing I spelled them wrong in the first place. Although this has caused me to text some embarrassing things that don’t make sense, it is usually very helpful. For example, once when my roommate was trying to text me and say, “hey chica,” her phone corrected it to say, ”hey Chicago.” I do think when we went over grammar in class it was a good review and also very helpful. 

38. Hooters:what are they 'really' selling?

“I want to be her!”  I can’t even tell you the amount of times that I have either thought or said these words. The media shows us images of beautiful skinny models and expects us to feel the need to look just like them, to use the product they use, to in a sense be them. I’m not saying that I’m proud of this, but I can’t help the way I feel. Thoughts about image run through our mind throughout the day. If I only I could lose a few pounds or if my teeth were a few shades whiter. The skewed vision of reality has transformed me into a self-conscious nineteen year old who secretly wants what others have. When I was younger, I was carefree and looks did not play a huge part in my everyday life. As I grew older I realized how appearance could be used to your advantage. When looking for a job, in many cases your looks factor into the decision of whether or not you will get hired. Hooters, whose logo is, “delightfully tacky yet unrefined,” hires women who have assets that attract men to the restaurant. Men objectify women, sometimes even unintentionally. Whistling at girls as they walk past, or making catcalls at them can be viewed as degrading to women. Everyone have a great Cinco de Mayo tonight! Be safe and drink lots of margaritas. Also today has made me crave some chips and queso dip. Yum!

37. Hypothetical Situation

For my commonplace paper I was thinking about different hypothetical situations that I could use for my paper. I was thinking about using a ‘what if’ scenario. Because my topic is body objectification I decided to consider some consequences of it. What if we lived in a world where people weren’t judged based off of their appearance: weight, skin color, clothing choice, height, etc. What if the media used models of all ages and body types for campaigns? Would the product sell as well as it would if a gorgeous model was selling it? In the future if their bodies continue to be objectified by the media and men, will women try to make a change?  Young women often feel pressured by men and the media to look a certain way. What if the pressure was too much to handle and they harmed their bodies in some way as a result?

As I was writing my blog my roommate, who was on the phone with her boyfriend, started to laugh uncontrollably. I looked at her as if saying “what the hell is so funny?!”  Then she proceeded to tell me today was national Star Wars day. I continued to stare at her blankly, extremely confused as to how that was funny. “May the Fourth be with you, “ she said and then she started cracking up all over again. Apparently she found the joke much more amusing than I did but it reminded me of this class considering our theme is Sci-Fi so I thought I would share with everyone! 

36. Personal Anecdote

My personal anecdote is going to be a story from my freshman year in college. Girls are especially worried about body image at this point in their life because they are so worried about gaining the dreaded freshman fifteen. It has been raining for days and all I want to do is sleep, eat, and not blog.  Luckily soon our blog topics become more interesting .  Cinco de Mayo is on Thursday and I think that calls for a celebration. I really want to wear a sombrero too.  Another holiday this Thursday is Fletche’s birthday and therefore I am currently in the process of planning a birthday party that includes fried pickles. Also this weekend is mother’s day and because I’m extremely homesick it makes me a little sad. I am thinking of intruding on Kristen’s mother’s day plans because I love her mommy, but I don’t know if that will be appropriate.My personal anecdote is going to be a story from my freshman year in college. Girls are especially worried about body image at this point in their life because they are so worried about gaining the dreaded freshman fifteen. It has been raining for days and all I want to do is sleep, eat, and not blog.  Luckily soon our blog topics become more interesting .  Cinco de Mayo is on Thursday and I think that calls for a celebration. I really want to wear a sombrero too.  Another holiday this Thursday is Fletche’s birthday and therefore I am currently in the process of planning a birthday party that includes fried pickles. Also this weekend is mother’s day and because I’m extremely homesick it makes me a little sad. I am thinking of intruding on Kristen’s mother’s day plans because I love her mommy, but I don’t know if that will be appropriate.

 

35. Purpose

My purpose for writing this Commonplace paper is to make teens and young adults aware of body objectification. Just because the model on TV wears a size zero, doesn’t mean you need to be her size to be happy.  Be yourself. Be unique and don’t spend your life trying to be somebody else’s idea of perfection. You do not need to objectify your body in order to feel loved or wanted. Most importantly, love yourself. You should be comfortable in your own skin. I think Marilyn Monroe sums up my point perfectly in her quote, "Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." We need to stop trying so hard to be like everyone else because everyone is special in his or her own way and they should just own it. The media makes it extremely difficult to do this because they glorify thin gorgeous women. We need to focus on women like Queen Latifah when looking for role models instead of people like Lindsay Lohan and Heidi Montag. Eating disorders and plastic surgery are not the answer to being happy. Queen Latifah, who used to diet for years, has now come to not only accept the way she looks, but love it.  Feeling of self-worth and fear of not being accepted are huge challenges for women today. Women judge themselves harshly based off what the media and men are telling them they should look like. Find self-love first and then others will love and respect you for who you are. 

34. Compelling

Body Objectification is timely, relevant, and lastly it is compelling. It is important that teens and young adults don’t constantly obsess over their looks and appearance because it is not safe or healthy. Girls who are still in high school are getting plastic surgery like nose jobs and breast implants. Celebs like Heidi from the Hills, who got numerous surgeries done, are the types of people that the youth sees on the covers of magazines at the grocery stores. I think it is disturbing when you look how far some people will go to make themselves look a certain way. Girls and even some guys being to starve themselves or force themselves to throw up after eating to try to lose a few pounds. The media uses women’s bodies to sell their products. Beer companies, shape-up shoes, lotions and shower gels, and even commercials for men’s razors use women to draw attention from the media. These are just a few commercials or concepts that came to mind there are thousands more.  Men also objectify women’s bodies in many cases. Men seem to be constantly checking out women’s bodies, making comments, and even yelling things to them as they drive by. I suppose some people might take the whistling and crude comments as compliments that make them feel better about themselves, but I am not one of them. I’m not saying that all men are pigs, but there is a good chance that at one point or another in a guy’s life they have in some way objectified a woman.