Goals

It is always good to set goals for yourself. When I make goals for something I always work super hard and achieve them. I was thinking the other day and thought, "I should make goals for myself for the next five years," just to see if everything works out. My favorite goal is to travel. I know Ball State has a lot of studying aboard for a semester and I would love to visit London. My top goal is travel to London and maybe other places to like Greece and Ireland.
My school goal for the future is to finish with a 3.5. I know it might not be that high for other people but going up it was hard for me to get good grades. I am going to push myself very hard for the next four years and come out on top. In school I would also like to join a marathon. The training is really hard, of what I have heard. If you think about it, crossing the finish line knowing you stuck it out would make you feel so good inside. My final goal is to be a teacher right after I graduate. There is a job problem right now in the upper part of the states, but I would like to move down to South Carolina. It would be so nice to get away from this weird Indiana weather that changes all the time.

Fall Break

This past fall break had to be the most relaxing three days of my life. On Thursday I got out at 10:45 which was really nice because right after class my mom came and picked me up. We went out to the mall which was fun because she was getting me stuff for my upcoming birthday and Christmas. After the mall we went back home and she made me a wonderful homemade meal with green beans, chicken, and salad. It was very yummy! Later we watched a movie on TV which was Hocus Pocus, that is my favorite Halloween movie.
The next day I woke up worked-out and sat around the house and got some homework done. That helped out a lot because this week is swamped. On Saturday I hung out with some friends that I haven't seen forever so it was really nice to catch-up. On Sunday it was more of rushing around the house type of day. My mom was throwing all my clothes around and I was trying to clean up my room. But coming back to see all my friends had to be a an end to a wonderful weekend,

Seeing People

This Fall Break is going to be very fun. I am not going home but I am going to go and visit my brother. My brother who is a junior goes to Wabash college, which is twenty minutes from Purdue. I'm really excited to go because my brother has never let me visit by myself before. He always told me I was to young and since I was in High School it would not be a good idea. He is in a fraternity at Wabash named Phi Delta Theta. My brother and I are very close and talk all the time. While I'm at Wabash my brother and I are going to stay their till Saturday. Saturday we are going to Purdue so he can some of his old friends from high school and I can see some of my friends. It's always nice to travel around to see people. Getting out of my area and see different perspective of other college students and see how they get by. I'm really excited for this weekend. I love Fall Break!

Halloween

When people thinking about Halloween it usually consist of going out in a fun costume and getting a lot of candy. To my family it is a little different. It kind of reminds me of Thanksgiving. My mom decorates the house with all types of Halloween bowls and pumpkins. My dad puts out lights around the door with skeleton heads hanging for the door. On Halloween morning my family wakes up and meets out in the kitchen where my dad is making thick bacon. While my mom is making sweet cinnamon rolls out of a can. She is not the best cook but she tries. We get everything ready for the trick or tr-eaters to come while my mom is getting all the candy together. When it comes to 7:00 the first trick or tr-eaters arrive. All I hear in the next two hours is, "Amanda come look at this costume! It is so cute!" While my mom is getting the good and handing out candy my brother and I always watch Fox Family. They always have the best movies on during Halloween. My favorite Halloween movie is Hocus Pocus. That's what my family does for Halloween.

Suicide in US Army

Going into war you think of fighting for your country. It never comes to mind that you could end up committing suicide. In Iraq Wilhelm a US soldier took his life in August, because of being bullied in his unit by his Sergent's. The Sergent's names are Bob Clements and Enoch Chatman. It was only his fourth day when he took his own life. Two soldiers are charged with maltreatment and cruelty to there troop. It was said that the two Sergent's used verbal abuse and grueling exercise to Wilhelm. Wilhelm was in 2nd squadron, 13th cavalry regiment. It was said that the Sergent's made fun of his weight and mocked him because he was supposed to be trained to fire master. Instead they put him in a platoon of mostly scouts. This is a different type of bullying that is both physical and verbal. Bullying is when there is repeated acts of a person making fun of another person. This can be from verbal abuse to physical abuse. This should not be happening in a US military base. Soliders are over there to fight for our country. Not to be bullied and then commit suicide.

Aamer, Madhani "Court-martial weighed in discipline cases." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Oct. 2009.

Perfect Rainy Day

I love it when it rains! Everything just seems so calm and peaceful. It's like a big wave just hit everybody to slow down and take your time. A rainy day can be taken as a comfy day, were all you need to through on is a sweatshirt and long cotton pants. It's a reason to just stay home and take a lazy day. Whenever I am home and it rains, I make myself a big cup of green tea, turn on the fireplace, and just enjoy taking everything slowly. Some people take rainy days as watching movies and doing indoor actives. There are only three movies that I will watch on a rainy day. The first one is Titanic because it's just an amazing girlie flick to watch on one of those days. Second is Breakfast At Tiffany's. It is such a good old movie that it makes me want to sit around and shop on the internet. The third movie is 300. It's such a good movie, even though it is not historically corrected. This makes me just want to go into my dorm room, watch a good movie, and internet shop. I hope I gave everyone a good idea of something to do on a rainy day.

Peer Review

Peer reviews are one of the best things to have in English class. It really helps me to understand what a paper is supposed to be like. In this last paper I was really confused on how to write it, but after doing peer review it helps me have an idea on how my paper should be. Getting ideas from others helps me understand on what I need to work on and how to work around it. After receiving my peer reviews I have noticed that I really need to read my paper before giving it to others to read. I need to elaborate on why the song that I have chosen relates to "A long way gone." I also need work on my grammar through out my story, and state where I have received my information when I quote something. Doing peer review, you have two point of views on what to change, so when getting this information I look at my paper and think "I need to change this and this." I hope we keep doing this through out the year so I can always get an idea on what I need to change and what is good.

If I was on an Island

If I was on an abandon island and I could only take three things with me I would take Elton John so he could sing to me, a person who works at a coffee shop, and water shoes. I would take Elton John because he is an amazing singer. He could just sing "Bennie and the Jets", and "Your Song," the whole time which would be very relaxing, and if Elton John was missing there would be a big search party for him, that would make me have an 80% chance of being found.
Taking a person that works at a coffee shop would come in handy because if they have coffee plants on the island she could make me really good coffee, or she could find a bunch of fruit and make amazing fruity smoothies.
Taking water shoes would be a must to take on an island! I would use them to walk around the island, and use them for taking a dip in a pond, it would help not to step on anything that might cause me to die. It would also help in the ocean with not stepping on shells and ocean plants that could be pointy. On those hot days when the sand is really hot the shoes could help form not getting blisters.