Done AND done!

That's right! I have now completed my first year of university and I'm so happy to be done! Now all I have to focus on is work. Whoohoo!!!

Lets see, what did I learn over the course of the year? Hmm...not much. No, just kidding. I'm sure I learned a lot. I pretty much enjoyed all my classes, or the readings at least. My geography professor was SO boring, so I didn't go a whole lot to that one (but don't worry, I still did really well in the course); sociology was good...I'm going to be minoring in it, just for the heck of it I guess, except Prof. Hammond was kind of dry sometimes, but the readings I really enjoyed; social work, I didn't mind the lectures, but the readings were bad and I hate learning about policy crap; religious studies I liked, especially debating and stuff, but my professor's a retard, so that was interesting and there was a lot of reading and weekly tests, so the work load was a bit heavier than the others; and lastly, social justice I enjoyed a lot, especially the lectures, since I never did the readings anyways! But I am still going to stick with that as my program. I know, it sounds like I didn't care a whole lot about my classes, but I did really well, I just know how to use my time wisely and only do what I need to do.

Also, I thought that first year was a little easier than high school's grade 12 for some reason. If it's true that you're supposed to subtract 10% from your high school mark to equal your university average, well then, I'm pretty smart! So, it's not like I slacked off or anything (well maybe compared to some people), it's just I like doing things at the last minute because it helps me focus more. I also found it helpful to write out all my text notes and stuff to study from. It makes it more organized. I think first year is just a learning experience to get a feel for what you like, your study habits, what's expected from you, where everything is, etc. Someone asked me a little while back if I found it scary, and surprisingly, I didn't at all. I'm a very shy person, so I don't like new things all that much when I was in high school, but for some reason, now I feel a lot more comfortable with meeting new people and not really stressing out about anything. It's pretty cool! I found the people are a lot more accepting of people who may be "different" or not "cool". It's not as cliquey as high school was, but people do have their own groups because not everyone can be friends with everyone.

So yeah, now I have to pick my next year's courses and stuff. I really did like first year, but right now, I'm pretty much done with doing work and stuff. I can't wait for the summer and for my birthday (I'm turning 19...and I'll be explaining my thoughts on that later on when it's closer to my birthday).

That's a toughy

I'm sort of starting to get a little more involved at New Hope. The thing is, though, it'll just never be the same as Faith. Ah well. So far, the church closing down has been working out for me. Yesterday I went to Paul and Julie Noad's house (sort of young adult leaders). There weren't very many people there though (I think about 7 including Joel K. and I), but it was nice to see and hang out with people again from the 40 Days of Purpose. It was just a casual hangout that included cards, Sequence, and good ol' fooseball (sp?). The girls almost beat the guys 7-10, which was pretty impressive because I thought we wouldn't even get any points! Anyways, that was that night.

This morning I woke up and my dad was home. I had forgotten he took it off, and so we started talking about what I was going to do after University and stuff (oh the joys). You know what? It's a toughy. I don't understand how people can know exactly what they want to do with the rest of their life. Mine is so general. Poverty. Yup. That's it. I don't know what I should do about it, but I do know that that's an area of interest. See, the thing is, I want to help poor people in other countries because they truly are poor. It's a matter between life or death. Here, I'm a little less sympathetic towards poor people because they have a much better chance of survival than those of third world countries. Does this mean I think third world nations deserve to be helped over those here? Not at all. I just feel that's where my heart is. It's such a hard decision to make: what to do with the rest of your life. On one hand, I want to devote myself to helping those less fortunate than the rest of us; but then on the other hand, I would absolutely love to have a family of my own. I don't work in a daycare just for a pay cheque you know! I happen to adore children. So the big question is, right now, what would I rather do, or how can I do both?

Yes, I know, I am only finishing first year. But you know, this year flew by and I imagine the rest of them will as well. So time means nothing to me right now. Life is so strange in that way. I am more confused than ever. See, here's what I'm thinking. It's a little jumbled and messed up, but bear with me. If I were to become a mother (which I so desire to do so), that means I would have to take off a lot of time away from whatever it is I'll be doing. I do not want to be one of those mothers who shoves their kids in daycare or anything like that because it is not beneficial to the children. Of course I'll socialize them, but eight hours in a facility with someone else raising them does not sound appealing to me. Therefore, I would want to stay home until they start school. So that means I would be jumping back into the workforce behind because of those "lost" years. But another possiblity would be to just be a stay-at-home mom and maybe sponser a child, or contribute my time voluntarily, or part time. Man, so many decisions to make! My dad keeps telling me "you're only 19" (in a month) and therefore I have lots of time. But I'm one of those people that likes to get decisions and stuff out of the way as soon as possible, that is, if I HAVE to make a decision, because I'm really terrible at it!

So that's that. If any of you have any suggestions or whatever, that would be cool. Goodnight all.

Vegetable Monster??

I believe Joel eluded to this topic on his blog somewhere...can't remember. But man, this is annoying. They're taking away a significant character from Sesame Street! Or modifiying, rather. I think this is absolutely messed up. It's not the cookie monster that's making children obese. In case they haven't noticed...Sesame Street has been around for awhile, and the introduction of the cookie monster didn't suddenly create some epidemic of fat kids. It's that stupid Ronald McDonald that's killing everyone. Working at a daycare, I see it all the time. Kids will eat two or three cookies, maybe...but then you have regular kids coming in almost every night with McDonald's or Pizza Pizza....hmmmmm, but that's not making children fat, right? Come on. McDonald's, they're eating chicken nuggets and french fries that are made from potatoes, isn't that a vegetable? Sure it is, but they fry it in grease and then lather it with sodium. Sheesh. Maybe if parents weren't so busy with other things, they would notice that THEY'RE the ones feeding their children, so THEY should be monitoring what they eat. Get rid of fast food commercials in between Sesame Street. Maybe that would help. Besides, I grew up with the cookie monster, and he never made me fat. And if society thinks that McDonald's "healthy choices menu" are really healthy, HA! I laugh in their face. I'll tell you what they really put in those things, and how they leave them sitting out for days and then label them "fresh". Yup, sure sounds good to me.

Also, if we're in some sort of health kick generation where everything has to be low-fat, sugar-free, 0 calorie, water crescent crap, then maybe people should re-think jacking up the prices so that no one wants to eat healthier. That new fruitbowl thing at Wendy's, yeah, it costs like six or seven dollars. For fruit! I'd rather pay 3 bucks for a fattening hamburger, then at least I'd feel like I actually ate something. Well, that's my rant for the day. Anyways, enjoy yourselves!

P.S. Snuffleupagus was the best character from Sesame Street! ;)