River, side

So, for the first time, since I have lived here, I walked around my community, aimlessly. This experience was out of the ordinary for me, seeing that the only time people walk in my community is when they are in lack of a car, and will only walk long enough to thumb a ride. When I began my derive, it was a bit cloudy due to the previous rain storm. As I began, something shifted me to taking a "left" out of my driveway, instead of the normal "right". A big landmark of the "conference" building attracted me. It symbolizes the center of the community because a lot of sad and important events occur in that building. A lot of funerals and conventions and concerts happen there. As I continued to walk down my street, I came to my road sign. "Beaver road", its kind of funny because all the streets from the cape fear river have "watery" names. As I continued down the long, and moist street, I continued to follow the highway in direction of town, I saw beautifully colored leaves and large fields. The "Welcome to Riverside Community" sign is very significant to me. My mother is the president of the community, and she was motivator and biggest fundraiser to fund the sign. I continue to walk down the street, and I came to the sign, "ERWIN" city limits. I chuckled at that because Erwin is definitely not what one would picture when thinking of "city". As I continued my walk, I realized that I was following the flow of traffic. No one was walking around but all traffic seemed to be going towards the "city". The next significant aspect of my town that I saw was the Cape Fear River. I don't think I will ever walk over a river again. It was quite scary to me. But the river was very beautiful with leaves shinning in its slowly churning waters. After standing and gazing at the river for a while, I continued to march up a steep hill. In a car the hill seems like any normal slope in the road, but on foot, the hill seems enthralling. Not necessarily knowing what lay on the top of the hill, the walk upwards seemed mysterious in a sense. Upon topping the hill, I saw THE PROMISED LAND. Lol. No, I only saw a dinky dink gas station and a couple of horses in a fence. . Unfortunately after I reached the gas station, my derive was over.

Gobble Gobble

"I am Thankful for my family, I am Thankful for my friends, but the turkey is now here, so LETS DIG IN!" Corky little sayings my be said like that, in hundreds of home on Thursday for one of my favorite holidays. Thanksgiving is here and I am truly ready to be stuffed. I can just taste the stuffing and the mashed potatoes now on my tongue. Ooh. And let's not get started on the deserts, cheesecake and pineapple cake, wow wow, they are great. Yummy, I can't wait. Ok, yes there are more reasons why Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. It is a day when people just flat out say Thank you. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Mom and Dad, Thank you Grandma, for ALL the things you have done for me, for all the guidance, and for all the encouragement. The pilgrims started this day way back when they had a big feast with the native Americans. What a great idea. J Also you may get to see family members who you haven't seen in a while and catch up face to face about events occurring in his or her life. Of course, you may run into that one cousin of yours who no matter what, always seems to start something with someone. They can not control their attitude problem, and by the end of the day, there will be hostile comments and blatant anger towards some. Thanksgiving is Family. It should be a day where we can settle conflicts and join hands in unity over some warm delicious peach cobbler. I have always thought of having thanksgiving with my family and there is never a time where I would think that I wouldn't. Then I came to college. I met people from out of town who did not have the money to go home and see their families over the holiday. That situation really hurt my heart. I know how bad they want to be at home and enjoy being around family, rather than being stuck on campus with a couple of random strangers who are in your same situation. Well, I hope they still cook some delicious food and not rely on a pizza delivery or something of that sort. Happy Happy Happy Turkey Day! Gobble Gobble.

Team up

I can take over the world by myself. I don’t need you. I am so much more powerful and smarter than you. Umm I’m sure that several people have thought this same thought, but as you can tell, no one has yet taken over the world and If someone is in charge of something, they have to have the support of other people along with their selves. From way way way back, collective action emerged by hunting large mammals. Someone figured that if they work with more people, the easier it would be to hunt the large mammals and have more food. Howard Rheingold’s video on this topic, was very thought provoking. Personally, pretty much everything I want to accomplish comes along with the work of other. So you can’t study and make a great grade by yourself? Yes, I can, but if I have a study group, and call pull on their strengths to strengthen my weaknesses, my grade will be better. The tragedy of the commons kind of reminds me of the SAW V movie. No one trusts anybody, but all they have to do is work together to stay alive. Of course there are many problems that can arise with collective action. There will always be someone who thinks they deserve to be the leader in all possible walks of life. I seem to have the tendency of always getting stuff together, and I think It’s just a natural built in ability to lead. I have no problem following, but if I discover a better way of doing something, I will voice my opinion. I think It is amazing that some principles which were started thousands of years ago, still apply today, even with things in existence now which were not back then. The video also spoke about the prisoner’s dilemma and more up to date cases of that situation. All around the world, people have to accept the responsibility of teaming up with others if they want to successfully complete a task.

Hype

College students have the most spirit ever known to man. If there is an event at their school, you will be sure to know that they are going to support in as little or as much ways as possible. So its 10.30 am and I hear a loud parade outside my window, its for the game. Everyone is so excited and ready to beat NC State, the whacky wolf pack. I am not going to attend the game because I'm stuck studying Statistics all night, and all the weeks up until the final. L sad, I kno. Students today are going to be decked out in their Carolina blue and repping the Tar heels to the fullest. Seeing people so highly spirited about these events sort of make me want to be that way, but ummm it hasn't had a full effect on me yet. What I hate is standing beside a person who believes the more he screams and jumps the team is going to score! Wow. Those types can make your experience miserable at a sporting event. UNC is known for its fan base and they even have a fancy name, Carolina Fever. The members of that group have UNC spirit to the upmost extreme! You can not not feel a surge of energy when in a stadium with them. They make the game more exciting in my opinion. Today's weather can deter fans who are not extremely committed to supporting their school. That's why I am sitting in my dorm room right now. I am sure that the foot ball game will be packed today because there are lots of students on the search for tickets now. There are even some students who would pay up to $20 for a ticket that is normally free. Yea, of course that is illegal but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. Today's football game is a really big one, we have been hearing junk from the wolf pack fans all year. Well today I believe that the game is not going to only depend on the players, but also how Hype the fans can get. TAR……HEELS!!! TAR…..HEELS…..will resound all around Kennan Stadium and I believe we will leave victorious.

Change

Before I came to college, someone told me that if I come back home the same person, then I did myself no justice in going to college. They were not necessarily meaning me gaining academic knowledge; they were meaning me growing emotionally and fundamentally as a person. College is a soil that you, a seedling, is implanted into for four or five years, rain and food is sprinkled upon you and you are beaten with storms. Once you are ripe, you emerge a beautiful and well rounded flower that has more abilities than ever imagined. Well maybe the situation is not that poetic, but everyone does change tremendously while in college. You learn first hand, different cultures, you make new friends and sadly, you cut loose some childhood friends. You view your world differently and you formulate opinions more wholly than once ever thought of. College has made me a more loving and articulate person. I reach out to others more and if I believe in something, I will try my best to make you see my point. I may not be an expert on proving myself yet, but I am getting there. Attire change is also a product of college. Once baggy wearing gym clothes wearing girl, could awaken from her fashion slumber and dress classy and sleek everyday. Interesting, I know. I'm thankful for this change in my life. I do not even notice directly some of the things that I have began doing until others point them out in me. Strange how you think you should know everything about yourself, because you are yourself. But you don't. Lol. We all should embrace chance. Why should we stay consistent? Is that benefiting anyone? If we are not faced with difficulties how will we know to appreciate things? If we are away from home and remain exactly the same whenever we return, why did we even leave the house? Even if it is not a large change, changes occur unconsciously.

Wrong

Being right is so important. If you are not right you are wrong, and if you are wrong, you are not right. Who set the standard of being right? Is it just an agreed theory which we have been forced to conform to? Who says that the facts that we all believe are even true. Maybe I am thinking to far outside of the box, but this world is quite odd to me. You only think like others think and you are ridiculed for thinking differently. Why cant we accept every thought in its purest form? Well Monique, what about thoughts of suicide and genocide? How can you justify that as being correct? Well reader, I can not. I just know that the society that I have grown up in does not accept measures such as that. I guess this goes back to Adam and Eve. I think all this correct and incorrect stuff came along with the eating of the forbidden apple. Once they figured that bare skin was "naked" and considered wrong, people just began formulating correctness and wrongness no matter how just the incorrectness can be. Right and wrong has been accepted. It is our way of society. Our system to keep the unwanted out and praise the wanted. If you are unwanted and what an in-dept analysis of why you are wrong, I'm sorry. You will only get the textbook answer and be told you're "wrong" because this is "right". Real weird. But that is the world we are living in. We have to accept policies and judgments that deep inside we do not agree, but will not be able to change the opinion of so many others for fear that they may become "outcast" of the society. Ha.ha. Well let me get back to "righting" my English paper. J

Tick Tock Ticking

This is a waste of time. Blogging. How dumb. Ummm. I kind of agree. A recent article that I read solidified my opinion. The article basically said that the blogging world is no longer for amateur because they are being taken over by the professionals. Once when you could instantly Google an event and bloggers opinions would come up, not when you look for things, you have to shift through several professional magazines or online newspaper writers. He states that your work will be left to read by the hecklers and the people who always find something wrong with information. There will be no one to appreciate it. I personally agree with him, because this blog has been read by no one other than the forced readers due to assignments. But then again, I do agree that some people actually just enjoy writing. Blogging is a way to express you. Some writers do not blog for the fame, they blog to inform friends or even themselves about views and ideas of a certain experience. For those who are not professional writers, blogging is their safe haven. If we deplete the use of blogging, what are they left to do? Even though it may take time and consideration of what to put on your blog, that goes hand in hand with accounts such as Facebook that he advocated. It takes time and consideration of figuring out what pictures to add to your Facebook and what personal information to show. I don't think that Paul Boutin was a blogger who enjoyed it. I think that he was more focused on the fame and the amount of views that he received. Once he realized professionals and etc. where crossing into the forbidden land of blogging, he felt that blogging was a waste of time. As stated earlier, I'm in agreement with Paul. Why? Because writing is not a way that I choose express myself. I only like writing when it is necessary and other times, it is a hassle. I am more of a reader. But for those bloggers out there, you keep it up….LETS BLOG!