I'm such a slacker

I haven't done anything with Blogger in so long.

FAIL.

I was reading (definitely just typed readying) my friends' blogs and I realized that even Chris has updated since I last wrote. That was an indicator that I really needed to hurry up and add to my blog.

Not that there's much to say.

Still school. Still work. Still no money.

I'm on spring break this week, which is lovely, except that it means the second half of the semester is coming up on Monday. Workload doubles, big projects are due, studying for finals, and dealing with big, scary cameras in my TV production class.

Which reminds me, I need to buy a VHS tape. DON'T FORGET.

This week I worked in the garden a bit, worked at work a bit, applied for a few different jobs, got my van inspected...

Oh there's a story. If you remember, I wrecked my parents' van in January - ran into a tree because of slipper roads. It wasn't TOO bad, as in, it could still be driven. My dad got pieces and mostly fixed it, but he couldn't get the headlight adjusted back the right way. So I got it inspected on Monday and it was a definitely fail because of the headlight. I had to go to a bodyshop to get it fixed, and I was afraid it was going to cost like $1000 or more. BUT!!!!!! Mom and I managed to find a bodyshop that fixed it for us; they said it was a really simple fix and they weren't going to even charge us anything! We gave them some money anyway. And then got the van reinspected and it passed.

w00t w00t!

So the plan is for me to buy the van from mom and dad, and I'll be selling my old one. It's sad because I really did like my old van, but I can't afford a new transmission for it and it's been having all sorts of problems that in a way I'll be glad to be rid of it.

So yes.

Also, I have Twitter which I like very much so look me up - notashamed87.

Not that anyone actually reads this blog.

*sigh*

So, yay!

I got a new layout for my blog.

Yay!

I just have to figure out how to make the title of my blog smaller to fit right. Maybe I'll figure it out at some point. Or maybe not. Or maybe I'll get a new layout. Because I like this one, but there were some other pretty ones, too. Since I needed an XML layout, BlogSkins wasn't working for me. I'd used that site before and love some of the layouts (thanks for the suggestion Etenesh!). But it took me like half an hour to figure out why it wasn't working. >.<

Anywho, I went to Blogger-Templates and found this layout and some other really nice ones.

Right now I'm in class - Broadcast Journalism. We are listening to everyone present their radio projects. I think we all did really well. A lot of people had nicer ones than mine, but I still feel happy with the one I did. Maybe I can figure out a way to upload it on here so you can hear it. ^_^

I applied for a maintenance office position at Kings Dominion and even went in for an interview on Wednesday, but I haven't heard from them. I was going to call them today, but I didn't have the number, so I'll probably call tomorrow.

At some point I need to make an appointment at the eye doctor. I constantly have a headache lately, and I really think it's my eyes. The last doctor I went to gave me a lower prescription than the one I went to before and it hasn't seemed right since. Grr.

So yeah. Umm....

That's all for now?

I'm thinking about doing a video blog - a vlog - on YouTube. My sisters and I already do one (sort of) called BLU!, but I'm thinking about starting one of my own.

We'll see.

My blog looks yucky...

My friend Tasya's blog looks awesome, so I was kind of trying to copy her. It isn't working out so well so far. But maybe if I had more time to work on it. And maybe if I had hi-speed internet at home.

Alas, you'll have to deal with the way my blog looks as-is for now.

This week has been...actually I'm not sure. I can't decide if it's been long or short or good or what. It's just been. School, homework, all the usual stuff. I went to Kings Dominion on Tuesday for an interview for maintenance office, but the maintenance lady wasn't there so someone else interviewed me and I'm supposedly going to hear back from them. Happy happy joy joy.

Um yeah.

School is over for the week!

I have work tomorrow and Saturday and homework to do, as usual.

Bye for now!

One follower!

I have one follower on my blog now! I am super excited. ^_^

I'm having fun with InDesign tonight. It's sweet. It's a program for designing publications. You can take stuff you've done in Photoshop and put it in InDesign and then format the whole page so it looks awesome. Here's what I did tonight...



Yay!

I went and visited WRVA today. That's the local conservative news talk radio show. I got to meet Doc Thompson. It was awesome. Maybe I will intern there someday and maybe I will work there someday, who knows. It was cool talking to him, though, he is super nice.

Now I am in class. Doing nothing at the moment because I've already finished what I was supposed to be doing. I'm hungry. I have two oatmeal cookies in the truck calling my name. I hear them shouting to me, even from this far away.

I'm coming, soon!

In case you hadn't heard - we are all socialist now

Read the article here if you can stomach it.

So has the media finally realized the truth? We are turning socialist and becoming more and more like Europe and "more French"?

It appears so.

But they try to gloss it over. The word socialist is still referred to as the "S-word" in the article and made to sound like a conservative scare tactic. Conservatives are almost mocked, or are mocked, throughout the whole article. They (Newsweek) try to blame Bush and Republicans for it all.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Republicans haven't had a hand, because they sure have. Republicans now are so liberal that they're not much different than Democrats. So yes, they have had a lot to do with it.

What I can't stand is the way the article continuously links "conservative" with "Republican." The media cannot understand - they cannot seem to grasp - that Republicans are not automatically conservative. True conservatives would never vote for more government.

So if we ARE all socialist now and becoming more and more like Europe and France, is that REALLY a good thing? Newsweek seems to think so. They "objectively" point out some of the negative sides of having bigger government, but they don't even seem to realize how serious those negative sides really are.

We should take a good, long look at the countries in Europe and see if that's really what we want to be. Remember, America started because of opposition to the way things were run. Do we really want to be like everyone else now?

Just joined HubPages and Google AdSense

I thought "why not?" and joined Hubpages. Along with that I joined AdSense and Amazon Associates. I doubt I'll make anything by doing it, but it'll be interesting to see how it goes. I guess I'm going to be focusing on politics in my Hubs, at least for now. As always, I feel like a fish out of water trying something new like that. I feel so dumb because I don't know what I'm doing. But at the very least it'll prompt me to write more. And I'm thinking about applying to join Suite 101, too.

We shall see.

Suddenly this past week I felt overwhelmed with homework. Seems like I have a TON all of a sudden. I guess it's just because I have four classes, four days of classes, and they are all relating to reporting so that makes it a lot of work anyway. In one class, everyone was put in teams for our assignments and stuff and I so intelligently volunteered myself to be team leader. I am so afraid I will wind up doing all the work. But there is one girl in my team who is in some other of my classes, and she's really nice. I guess it'll work out.

Tuesday we had snow and ice. I tried to go to school anyway because it didn't seem like it would be that bad, and I figured the main roads would be okay. They may have been, but I didn't make it to the main roads. I slid right off the road and ran into a tree. In my parents' van. So now I have that to think about on top of everything else.

I REALLY NEED ANOTHER JOB!

I know the Lord will provide and everything will work out. At least, I know it in my head and I'm really good at saying the words. Applying that to my life is the hard part. But He has promised never to let me down - He never has and He never will.

(And if you feel like helping me out, click the Google ad on the right-hand bar under my info. Thanks!)

First post on a Mac

This is my first post from a Mac, in case you couldn't tell from the title.

Macs are pretty cool, I guess.

My class is Graphics for Journalism. It's lovely that she can take over all our computers at any given time, totally interrupting whatever I was doing. Don't like that very much, but whatever. Hey, it's a class, not free time, silly.

Not at all happy with AT&T right now. They randomly started charging us for internet used when we receive/send picture, video, or other multimedia messages, or do Instant Messaging (through the phone, not the internet). They aren't supposed to do this - all messaging is supposed to be included in our unlimited messaging plan. I've been spending about two months now trying to get it sorted out.

No one knows anything.

I've talked to countless people in customer service and hear something different from everyone.

(I think she's going to ta

ke my screen again, but I'll keep typing until then)

But yesterday I FINALLY talked to someone in the text messaging department, I guess, and she said that everything is definitely supposed to be included and she doesn't know why we got charged. Tomorrow I am going BACK to the AT&T store AGAIN and hopefully get this straightened out.

I browsed on the AT&T forums, too, and there are lots of other people having the same problem.

They'd better get it straightened out or they're going to have a lot of angry customers. Well, they do already. And some people, including me, are talking about switching to Verizon.

I'm hungry.

Don't feel like writing...

I don't feel like writing...

But I need to do something constructive.

I am sitting here in the student commons for...about 4 more hours before my next class.

I already emailed a person about interviewing them for my story that's due Wednesday (AHH!!!).

I could work on the team directory for my one class. But even that would only take about 2 seconds.

Why did I volunteer myself to be team leader???? ....Because no one else was.

I think I will go back out in the cold and go get my lunch out of the van. Then eat it.

Then I think I will work on BLU! which is not very useful, but at least it's doing something.

My head hurts.

You may have noticed my lack of profile picture...

I tried to upload THIS picture from the internet to be my new profile picture. For whatever reason, when I click "Save Changes" it erases the URL I post and gives me no new picture. That is mildly annoying, but whatever.

[the above only applies to my Blogger blog]

This semester is going to be long, I think, but it'll be okay. I have to go to VCU four days a week, and my classes are really spread out. I have a lot of free time between classes, but that just means I have lots of time to do homework. As soon as I get some.

I also get to drive home at rush hour two days a week, something I am (not) excited about. Last night I was stuck behind a woman who was testing the sensitivity of her brake and gas pedals and another woman whose car didn't HAVE a gas pedal. The joys of rush hour.

There's a girl sitting a little ways from me who has MARIO on her PHONE! I WANT IT.

Time flies...

My last post was from the last day of school...

This post is from the first day of school...

Ha!

So this semester's schedule is CRAZY and I don't like it. But it's only one semester and hopefully it'll all turn out okay. I'm in the middle of a ten minute class break right now - or actually, toward the end of the break.

I'll post more later....

Last day of regular school classes

Next week is finals. And then Christmas break.

Be sure to check out BLU! Episode 2.

This week is going by way too fast. Yesterday was nice. I finally got the website I've been working on for Robo's Detail Supplies up on the internet and working. It took a few days for me to get it to work, but I did it!

I also took a nap, which was kind of crazy. I almost never take naps. And I haven't taken one in a LONG time. Then my sisters and I worked on two more episodes of BLU!

Oh yeah, and I had to go pay for my van. Even though I decided not to get my transmission fixed, I had to pay for the work he had already done to it. He replaced the calipers and two tires, so I had to pay for that. *dies* No fun. I'm hoping I can sell my van now. I should put it on Craig's List - I have pictures of it somewhere. I get to drive it home this afternoon. Oh boy.

I created a new blog to post my resume and writing samples. I have so many blogs I've created or am part of now, some are for school.

A homeless guy just wandered through the student commons

That was kinda weird.

I realize I have been seriously neglecting my blog. My apologies.

What's been up in my life lately...? Let me think...

For starters, I am working at Ukrops in Mechanicsville now. Not sure whether I told you that already or not. I am a cashier and I really enjoy the work. But they are not giving me enough hours - usually 15 or less. I was told when I was hired that I would have 20-25. I talked to the supervisor/manager guy about it and he wasn't very promising. I think I have to find a second job, or just another completely different job. Actually, I KNOW I do, unless they miraculously start giving me enough hours.

The semester is almost over. Only one more day of classes, and then two days of finals and I will be done! Finished up and turned in my last assignments today. I still have to bring in my resume on Thursday, but since that's already all made, there's practically no work involved in getting that done. I'm not sure what's going to happen next semester. As it stands right now, I only have 10 credits and a screwy schedule. I've talked to an advisor about getting a few things straightened out, but I won't go into detail about that right now.

(A cute guy just sat down in the chair about six feet away from me. Why do the cute guys always appear when I'm feeling sick, and looking it, too? Blah.)

Anyway.

And my van is broken, so yay. Rick replaced the calipers (whatever those are, has something to do with the brakes) and two tires. THEN he found out I need a new transmission, which would cost me between $1,500 and $2,000. I don't have the money. So I'm almost positive I'm just going to forget about my stupid van. Good riddance. The thing has been a pain since I got it. I'm hoping I can sell it at least to recup the money I spent on the stinking calipers and tires. Then I'm just going to look for a new one. Hopefully a Honda, kinda like my first car. But I'll likely be without a car for a while and will have to work something out with my parents to borrow their van. That means that I will probably have to get up (REALLY) early to take my dad to work on days that I will need it. But it's all good, at least I have access to a car!

My Dad's car and the family Sidekick are also AWOL.

MONEY is stressing me out. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I were getting a good amount of hours at Ukrops and could depend on getting a fairly okay paycheck every week. But I really can't, so I'm kinda in ready-to-pull-my-hair-out mode. And I DO NOT want to get a loan. Period.

Oops, Sierra is out of class - time to go!

Until next time...

Good point...

I was listening to Doc Thompson earlier and he had a really good point.

He said that a lot of conservatives would have to be pulled back from the ledge today, after Obama won the election. They would have to be convinced that it's not as bad as it seems. The reason conservatives are so upset is because we can see the big picture, or at least some of it. We can get a glimpse of what this country is going to be like four years or eight years down the road with Obama as president.

But our lives didn't change at all TODAY, did they? No, we went on with our lives just like we normally do, doing the usual things.

And the things that are going to happen are not going to happen all at once. They will come along one at a time, and we conservatives will be able to take them one at a time. It's like walking - you just take one step at a time. It won't be fun, no, but at least we will be able to handle it.

It also reminded me of what the Bible says about God not giving us more than we can handle. It goes along those lines, at least for me. I know not all conservatives are Christians, but I am, and the point that Doc Thompson made today just seemed to go right along with that idea.

And, of course, I can always rest assured that God is in control, regardless of who is president. Or dictator.

.....

That was a joke.

For now.

Black Wednesday

So that's it then. It's all over. Two years of drama and scandal and all that dirt dug up on Obama, and in the end none of it mattered. People STILL voted for him.

*sigh*

I'm very close to being ashamed to be an American today. How did we become what we have become? How could we go, in a short two hundred years, from the land of the brave and the free to, basically, the United Socialist States of America?

Okay so we're not quite there yet, I guess, but we will be soon.

Those were also rhetorical questions. I KNOW how we got here. Sin. People are consumed by it, and it blinds them. People are selfish, greedy, and lazy. People don't want to do for themselves anymore (where has our pride gone??), they would rather lot the government, and ultimately other people, do the work for them.

Well congratulations, guys, you got what you asked for. Now let's see how it plays out. It will be interesting to see if everyone is still in love with Obama when they see just how socialist he is.

They will be, I already know it. Socialism, in the end, will matter to people just as much as truth, values, and integrity.

Which means it won't matter at all.

There were two spiders on my windshield that wanted to eat me tonight.

Like I said about life sometimes being overwhelming?

This is one of those times.

Work. Homework. Curves. Family. Church.

And tiredness.

I am exhausted tonight.

I worked 12-5 today and then they asked me to stay two more hours because they were short, so I did that instead of going to Curves thinking I could go tomorrow morning instead. Well my family is going out to breakfast tomorrow morning so I may not be able to go to Curves.

But I think I will cheat and go to Curves before my family leaves for breakfast (because I doubt they will leave before 8) and just not do a whole workout.

But that means I have to get up at 7 on a Saturday and THAT makes me want to cry.

I'm slightly grouchy tonight.

But Indiana Jones was good.

Goodnight.

Motivation is wonderful

So this morning my mom woke me up at 8:30. Normally I try to get up by 8 at the latest, but since I was up way late last night reading my blog, I decided to sleep until 9. BUT, Ukrop's called at 7:53 and wanted to know if I wanted to come in and work this morning. Mom kindly let them leave a message and let me sleep for an extra half hour before waking me up to let me know.

Thanks, Mom!

So I did go to work after all. I got there around 9:45 and stayed until 2:30. It was nice, I like working in the morning better. There's more old people working then, and I can relate to them better than I can relate to the teens. Plus they're nicer. And there are more old customers in the morning, too, and they are usually nicer than some of the younger customers.

So then I rushed home to get Mom and sisters and we all went to Curves.

Then I came home and wrote three sentences of my story about the Libertarian candidate for Senate that's due tomorrow.

Then we had dinner and went to Bible study.

Then I came home and FINISHED my story that's due tomorrow (I don't think it's that good, but it's done and that's what matters) and almost finished my short paper that's due on Tuesday in my POLI class.

And then now.

So, tomorrow I have school. Then I might possibly go grocery shopping with Mom and sisters. I haven't quite decided, because I still have to write my NewsCorp paper that's due on Tuesday. I'll probably go ahead and go shopping and then do my paper tomorrow night and finish it over the weekend. Yeah...

So, you should know better than to think I'll get through a post without a reference to politics.

I heard on the radio today Joe Biden's quotes about how there will be an "international crisis" not six months into the Obama administration. "Mark my words," he said. And he said this twice. And said that he could name four or five scenarios that might happen (what does he know that we don't??? He needs to spill.). Gotta love Biden. Why would he say something like this? Probably not the smartest thing to say. But then again, Americans haven't been the smartest people lately, so they'll probably just be in awe and not bother to think about what Biden said.

Yeah we're gonna have an international crisis if Obama gets elected because he's got no backbone and you bet the terrorists are going to take advantage of that! Why do you think they want him in so badly? I mean, duh.

Obama was in Richmond today. He had "Only In America" playing at his rally. I wanted to throw a water balloon at him for that. Also, a letter was sent out to all the public schools saying that it wouldn't be suitable for the classes to go to the rally as a field trip, but that it would be an excused absence if the parents wanted to take their kids.

'Scuse me?

They didn't do this for the Sarah Palin rally.

See what I mean about being sick of liberal-biased EVERYTHING?

I'm considering joining the Libertarian party. I'm also considering voting for McCain rather than writing in Sarah Palin, because as much as I disagree with McCain, at least he's a man of high integrity while Obama is a man of...well, no integrity.

So yeah.

Bedtime soon!

SO STOKED

Too good to be true?? I hope not!!!!!!



Dear NaNoWriMo 2007 Winner,



Last November, you and those typing fingers of yours did something amazing. And while you were busy bashing out your novel, we were frantically trying to line up a prize worthy of your feat.



Our goal was to find a self publishing company who would give every NaNo winner a free copy of his or her winning manuscript in paperback book form. It's taken us until now, but we've finally found them.



CreateSpace, an Amazon.com Inc. owned company, is generously offering every NaNoWriMo 2007 winner a "free proof copy" of their 2007 manuscript. What this means: A free proof copy of your manuscript in paperback book form–just by following the instructions below. They'll even cover the costs of basic shipping to you.

So much has changed, and yet so little

This is a favor I asked of my friends in THIS BLOG on July 23, 2005.

"I hope a tornado destroys KD. Preferably when there's no people there, of course.

I will never, ever work there again. And if I go insane and do work there again, please just shoot me."

I would like to inform you that NONE of my friends came through for me and I am very disappointed in you.

Just kidding!!!

This summer was not always the most fun, but I did meet some awesome people (like Tasya) and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

.....anyway.....

Today is finally over. I was going to write for a while before I go to bed, but I got distracted. I've been reading my blog for over an hour. I still need to take a shower before I go to bed so I doubt I'll get around to writing. But whatever.

Ukrops didn't call today so I guess I'm not working tomorrow morning. I could use the money, but it really is a good thing I'm not working because I have lots of homework to do. Lots of research/writing type of homework. Maybe I'll go to the library tomorrow to work on the research part of it.

And that's not counting the stuff I still have to do for Nancy Osgood's book - editing and researching, etc. Which also reminds me that I'm taking care of her pets next week. Ick...I'm not a fan of birds and she has seven.

Alas.

Life Can Be Overwhelming

Life is good lately, but it can be overwhelming as any college student knows! Right now I am sitting outside at school in between classes. Normally I would still be in global communications class, but we had a midterm so I got out early. I really SHOULD be doing homework/research but that really does not interest me at the moment. It's too nice out and I'm sick of school. It's nice to just sit here on this bench and watch Sierra recording a yellow jacket (video soon to be posted on YouTube and Facebook).

The leaves are falling all around us. It's kinda cool.

So let's see...I have a story about the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate (William Redpath) due on Thursday. Haven't started it - the writing part, I mean. On Tuesday I have two papers due. One of them I have a third done, the other I haven't started writing. After that I can relax for a while. A little while.

All this on top of work, which I now have to be concerned about - but I'm not complaining. I need the money. I work Friday afternoon and all day Saturday (which makes me irritated because the Celtic Festival is this weekend and I don't get to go for the 5th year in a row).

Momentarily I will be going to my next class, but for now I have pictures and videos to put up online.





Pictures of what I can see as I sit here...

A lady just sat down with one of those huge rolls of toilet paper that goes in public restrooms. I think she is a bathroom cleaning lady.

Time to head to class.

What I am thinking going into this election...

Am I the only one sick of both of the main Presidential candidates? Or of the media? Or of stupid people?

Sometimes I feel like I am. But I guess I'm not.

Glenn Beck is, too. ^_^

Seriously, though, the media drives me up the wall. They only really talk about the Republican and the Democratic candidates - for anything. The only time we hear about the other parties or candidates is just a tiny mention of them at the end of the story. "Also on the ballot is...." The end.

THAT STINKS.

I'm learning in my journalism classes that the media is supposed to be all "watch dog" and "guide dog" and whatever. They are supposed to inform the public on things that they need to know but might not be able to find out very easily. Well, they're not doing their job! I personally would like to know about ALL my options when I go to vote next month (if I go). Did anyone besides me not realize that there are seven Presidential candidates that will be on the ballot?

SEVEN.

And I know the names of three - Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian because I just looked it up because I'm doing a story on the Libertarian party for my class.

What is wrong with our media? That was a rhetorical question, I already know the answer. The media are liberal. This is generally speaking, of course.

But more than that, what is wrong with Americans? Are we seriously going to let someone like Obama or McCain become the President of our country? That was also a rhetorical question, I already know the answer is yes. But I have yet to understand WHY. Both of them are leading us straight into socialism, and people just embrace them like they are the greatest thing to ever happen to planet Earth.

Um, hello? You want socialism? Go live in Russia for a while. I know people from Russia. It's not pleasant over there. People don't make a lot of money, health care is the pits, and freedom is practically non-existent.

(Russian friends, if you're reading this, please don't be offended; you already knew my opinion of Russia anyway, and I still think you guys are great ^_^)

Do we seriously want our country, the land of the free, to be like THAT? Do we want to give up every single little right we have and let the government control every aspect of our lives? The things I hear coming from both Obama AND McCain are disturbing, and I can only imagine where our country will be when it's time for the NEXT election.

When will Americans grow up and stop voting along party lines simply for the sake of voting along party lines? Look at the candidates and what they really stand for - ALL OF THEM, not just the two of them that the media talks about. Make a decision based on your own research and your own THINKING (do people know how to do that anymore?), not on what the media or your friends or your party or anyone else tells you.

WE ARE AMERICANS. WE CAN THINK FOR OURSELVES. WE CAN LOOK PAST OURSELVES TO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE COUNTRY.

Or we used to be able to, anyway. And it is NOT best for our country to have a socialistic form of government. Anyone who thinks it is, really does need to go to Russia and see what it's like. No joke. Do you want to go to the doctor and know that (if the government decides you can get in, that is) the rubber gloves they are using have simply been rinsed and re-used, and the syringes and other materials are in the same state? I don't. Why do you think people come HERE for health care? And that's just one example.

I have to admit I'm feeling kind of hopeless and depressed going into this election. And it's not because I'm afraid that my candidate won't win. It's because I don't have a candidate. And that's because the politicians don't care about the people anymore, and I guess they haven't in a long time. There is no candidate (that I know of) that really stands for the people and what the people want. I also feel like it's too late for this election. Duh. Obviously nothing is going to change. Our country is just going to keep going downhill, faster than it's ever gone before. No matter WHO is elected.

I am FED UP with my government, can you tell?

We need a Civil War. Dead serious. I will move to Montana if they ever got serious and seceded. I so would.

Words cannot express how amazingly grateful I am that the Lord is in control. I can honestly say that I don't know what state I would be in if He weren't, or if I were not a Christian. I would be in a lot worse shape than I am now.

And by the way, if any Obama supporter happens to read this and would be interested in having a logical discussion with me, PLEASE let me know. I'm dying to understand why someone would seriously want to vote for him. I can talk to McCain supporters more easily without having my head bit off, but Obama supporters just start attacking me without giving me any information.